Review of Why Stop Now? (2012) by Brandon Yuji N — 14 Feb 2015

Quirk comedic drama that never really seems to find its footing despite some talented leads. I've never really liked Tracy Morgan as a comedic actor, his style is just loud and way too forced, with that said, I kinda liked him here.

He's a little more subdued and not as annoying as I typically find him to be. Not like his character is that well-developed or anything, but he's a little more calm and therefore imminently more likable than he comes across in other films.

Melissa Leo and Jesse Eisenberg are both great as always, particularly Melissa Leo, but I don't think the film every feels completely comfortable in its own skin. It's certainly worried what people perceive this movie to be and they try to work the story to fit that mold of quirky indie dramedy.

Like a Little Miss Sunshine. Not saying this film resembles that at all, but it's going after that same style. It's just that the neither the comedy nor the drama ever really have any weight to it, it's just too unsure of what it wants to be.

You can certainly notice it in the final cut of the film. The only really legitimately funny scene is the one in the car where Isaiah Whitlock Jr. argues with Eli's sister's sock puppet. I think it was, honestly, the one real good laugh the film gave me.

Everything else is mostly attempts that fail miserably. The film isn't horrifically bad or anything, but it just does nothing that you haven't seen done better elsewhere. A couple of good performances from the leads won't change anything if the script isn't up to par.

This is honestly a story that's been done countless times before, and will be done countless times again, but that doesn't mean it has to be lacking. I think a tighter focus on making the transition between comedy and drama seamless would've helped a whole hell of a lot.

This is poorly structured, it goes from scene to scene, randomly jumping all over the place. Several different stories going on at the same time, all going nowhere fast. At least the film is quite short, so it doesn't stick around longer than it should have.

This isn't terrible, but it really missed the mark on what it could've done. But, honestly, this isn't a film with wasted potential. It didn't have a lot of potential to begin with, but I still think it could've been much better.

Melissa Leo and Jesse Eisenberg, mostly Melissa, keep this film from being awful. That doesn't make this worth watching, though.