Everything Must Go

Nick (Will Ferrell) has lost his high-powered job, and his wife. In the same day. Since his wife has locked him out of the house and dumped his stuff in the front yard, he must figure out what to do next.

This is the basic story of Everything Must Go, the new "dramedy" from director / writer Dan Rush. It definitely has a warm vibe, and an indie film vibe. People are raving about Will Ferrell's "understated" performance and his acting ability. I sort of agree.

My Thoughts on Ferrell's acting

Yes, Will Ferrell is a talented actor. This one, strangely, hits close to home with me. I used to be involved in quite a bit of acting, theater, and mostly improv comedy. I still have friends heavily involved in acting and comedy. Now, I think I'm more talented at the improv type stuff than I am at "real", or intense "acting." I would rather be a goofball than play Hamlet. I am, by no means, an expert. But, I have been in plays, small film projects, and various productions for years, and have accrued quite a bit of experience.

The point of me saying all this is not to toot my own horn, as it were. (But now that I think about it, I am kind of awesome.) Rather, it is to say that after working with many different types of performers, and experimented with different styles of performance, it is no surprise to me that Will Ferrell is a talented and capable actor. his performance in this film reminded me of a subdued version of Ferrell's character in Kicking And Screaming, in which he played a suburban soccer coach dad. I don't really think there's much difference between a performance like Kicking and Screaming, and Everything Must Go. The tones of the films may be different, but the actual performance from Will Ferrell is not that much different.

And me, being a goofy comedy lover, felt that Ferrell was a tad too subdued in this peformance. I felt like he held back, longing to be funnier in certain scenes. But, the gravity of the part held him to a more toned down performance. Most fans and critics have seen this as a big positive step forward in his acting, but I see it as just what it is: Will Ferrell being subdued. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily. But, I'm also not surprised he can do it. In fact, I almost wanted him to be set free to take the character in a bit of a goofier direction. But, I think I'm the only one.

The conclusion

Everything Must Go is an interesting, indie film character study of a man who needs good neighbors. He is at the end of a certain chapter of his life, and sometimes the transition to a new chapter can be rough. That's what we want to see, as the audience. That's the good stuff. We do get to see it, and it is entertaining. There are funny moments, but there are equal parts heavy moments. Normally, I either say "see it", or "don't see it." There's not much of a middle ground. But, this one falls into the middle ground. I say, see it on DVD later. Don't spend extra money to see it on the big screen. Check it out on your local small screen.

Everything Must Go is rated R for dealing with issues of alcoholism, and some weird sexual stuff. I would say no one under 18 should see it.

my rating: 3 out of 5