Review of The Leisure Class (2012) by Bryan R — 04 Nov 2015

I though that there was so much potential for this film, but it felt like there was about 20 minutes of character building that was missing. Why not start the film in the morning of the first day? Explain the main character's con? Introduce an element of intrigue, like a phone call from the brother saying he's in town or a private eye discovering his secret?

First of all, Jason should have just done the Farelly Bros film. It would have been funnier, because they know how to write comedy and to build characters... they always have. Second, the entire project comes across as extremely rushed, and this is because HBO wanted to get the film out on a specific timeline, to coincide with the TV show and a locked in stone release date. No other film would have this type of extremely narrow timelines to get done, especially the script writing part, which clearly should have been given another month or two. Third, it seems evident that a third writer should have been brought in to polish up the script before it was approved. There were so many holes in the story that were just ridiculous: why would the two extremely uptight sisters go with their younger sister to that party with a guy who is a complete stranger? Would it not have made more sense for the little sister to go with Dean and then the two other sisters wake Charlie to "save" their sister from him? It was that point that the film totally lost me. And what was the point of the prostitute character? She had no added value and was completely irrelevant. Hiring her was a waste of money that could have been better used to develop the film.

Nevertheless, the film was funny. There were several parts that had me in stitches. For this reason, I think Jason should be given another chance, but with a real script from a real writer.