Review - Matt Mungle

 

I am going to just come out and say it. I laughed a lot in this film. I am not sure if it had to do with the timing or the delivery by the cast but something about this film worked. Granted it is not a memorable film that you would want to watch again and again but it has it's quotable moments and enough strength to make it a decent outing. But be forewarned, it wears its R rating proudly and prominently with no shame. This movie is rampant with sexual innuendos and excels in new ways to utilize vulgarity. There is nothing creative about this one and if not for the strong cast and other hilarious moments I am not sure it would be worth dealing with.

The film is about a failing car dealership trying one last option. The owner Ben Selleck (James Brolin) calls in a renegade sales team headed up by Don Ready (Jeremy Piven). Ready has made a reputation as the guy who can sell any thing to any body. His job is to whip up the local sales force over the 4th of July weekend and clear out the lot. Along the way of course he comes to a drastic realization that his life is meaningless and he has nothing to truly show for it. He immediately, and predictably,  falls for the owners daughter (Jordana Spiro) despite the fact she is engaged to a pop-singing wanna be (Ed Helms) who's dad owns a competitive dealership.

The supporting cast of this film each bring their own brand of comedy and work well together. They are unique enough to add something to the mix while not smothering the others. There is no weak link. Ving Rhames, Kathryn Hahn, and David Koechner star as Ready's team of sales experts. Hahn is especially strong and holds her own nicely as the sole female in this male led ensemble. She is smart, sexy and never shy's away from the lines they give her. Regardless of how crude or degrading to her gender and anti-pedophile's everywhere.

The Goods is rated R for sexual content, nudity, pervasive language and some drug material. Pervasive is an understatement. Like saying the universe is pervasively vast. There are several scenes that take place at a strip club and though the premise is poking fun of the action the fact is they still are there. In fact to make sure I wasn't just being overly cautious I asked one of our other young, female writers who happened to be at the screening with her dad if it was awkward at all.

She said, "Seeing movies with my dad has been a time honored tradition since I was in kindergarten. The Goods, while a decent movie all around, had some overly awkward moments.. Any film that has an entire conversation set in a strip club while getting lap dances is just a little bit embarrassing and awkward. The film made a good amount of raunchy jokes, but those did not faze us, we thought they were quite funny. It is the visual stuff that makes the situation a little bit tense. Would I recommend seeing it with your parent? Probably not, but who knows, maybe you both will get a kick out of it. As for me, I will make sure I do more thorough background research on ratings before seeing a film again with my dad."

There you have it. As with any flick, be wise and do your homework and certainly know your limitations. I give The Goods 3.5 out of 5 bandits. Again there was nothing ground breaking here but enough laugh out loud moments to make it better than others in the past. And I give the cast full credit for its success. So says Matt Mungle