Review of The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009) by Thomas W — 12 Mar 2010

The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard is a movie conundrum. I laughed throughout the entire movie; but all the while I didn't think it was a good one. The movie is very rough-around-the-edges and a lot of it feels staged and scripted (there isn't a smooth, natural flow to it).

This is a hard one to explain because I DID laugh more-often-than-not; I just do not think this style of humor will suit everyone. The jokes came at a steady pace but not all of them hit their target.

The Goods is an equal-opportunity offender and it is sexist, racist, ageist, homophobic etc. I can say that it succeeds at offending everyone (A Korean is mistreated because he resembles the Japanese; women are objects; stippers all fit into one of three classifications [student, single-mother, or crack-head]; a child is lusted after because he looks like an adult due to some glandular disorder; etc ).

The cast was all game and they were willing to humiliate or demean themselves by both action and/or dialogue -- some were far-more successful than others. Jeremy Piven leads the cast as Don Ready and he appears to be extremely comfortable in the role of @ss-hole salesman (Piven is always successful at playing smug sleaziods).

His team of "sharks" include Ving Rhames (he is fine here but anybody could have played this part), David Koechner (who for once isn't the most vulgar person on screen) and Kathryn Hahn (a talented actress who is horribly miscast as the tough-trash-talking female of the group).

James Brolin's running gag grows old pretty quickly and Alan Thicke and Ed Helms's roles as adversaries are rather one-note. It was nice to see Jordana Spiro (TBS's My Boys) in a movie; but she had little to actually do.

Arrested Development's Tony Hale was dependably funny and he might have had the movie's funniest moment when he gleefully reacted to the news that Bo Bice's brother (who?) was going to perform at the dealership to bring in customers.

This movie could most definitely please a viewer if this type of humor works for them; but if one isn't laughing after watching ten minutes of the movie, I would not recommend finishing it. The laughs are cheap and there is no sophistication with The Goods.

What you see and what you hear is what you get (don't go looking for depth here because you are not going to find it).