I love an oddball quirky indie, when it doesn't try too hard to be an oddball quirky indie. You can pretty much surmise the plot from reading the cover. Jeff (Tobey Maguire) has not been having sex with his wife (Elizabeth Banks). Romantic that he is, he asks her by spelling out the F-word. He confides his problem in a friend (Kerry Washington) listed as "the other fling" on the cover. They are caught by her husband (Ray Liotta) listed as "The Problem" who demands money. His rodent problem leads to other issues which include "The Fling" with the "wacked out" neighbor(Laura Linny). And since there is a guy called "The Fixer" (Dennis Haysbert) you can only guess correctly at this one.
The film had a great plot and the acting was great except for the lead. It was clear the cast was acting rings around Toby Maguire who doesn't have the talent to be a leading man. Similarly this reminded me "Snow White and the Huntsman" where our leading lady stood out like a sore thumb. If you like dark comedies and can stomach another bad performance by Mcguire, go for it.
Parental Guide: F-bomb, sex, brief shot of Elizabeth Banks butt.
The Details
2011
Action / Comedy / Drama
Plot summary
In King County, Washington, Dr. Jeff Lang has been married for ten years with Nealy Lang and they have a little boy. Their best friends are Rebecca Mazzoni, who studied with Jeff in the medical school, and her husband Peter Mazzoni. Jeff decides to sod his backyard, but the grass comes with worms underneath and raccoons destroy his sod during the night. Jeff wants also build another room in the house for his planned second son, but the City Hall blocks the project. Jeff decides to build the room without the approval and he gives a beautiful plant for his next door neighbor, the unstable Lila (Laura Linney) that lives with her cat Matthew, expecting that she does not denounce his construction work to the authorities. Jeff also likes to play basketball with his friend Lincoln, who has kidney problem and needs hemodialysis. However, the raccoons disturb Jeff and Nealy has not had sex with him for six months. Jeff decides to poison the raccoon and he meets Rebecca to drink and relief his bitterness about his dried up of sex marriage and they end the day having sex in Rebecca's home. Jeff finds a better work for Lincoln as a coach at a school and he learns that his friend will die soon. Jeff gets close to a breakdown when Peter discovers that his wife betrayed him with Jeff; Matthew is accidentally poisoned by Jeff and Lila seduces him and they have sex. Jeff decides to donate one kidney to save the life of his friend, but when he is recovering from the surgery, he learns that Lila is pregnant and he comments his life with Lincoln. Will Jeff find redemption in his journey to hell?
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SO FAR THIS HAS BEEN THE GOOD NEWS
Mind set
Tobey Maguire going crazy, and why? Because of his Garden? Well not only, there are reasons too. Plus who can be mad at Raccoons, aren't they adorable? (No I'm the only one that thinks that?) Seriously though: The movie and the shenanigans from all involved are sort of over the top, but still decent enough to watch. The cast list reads really great (Mr. Baldwin giving a speech that is life changing or at least should be for the character involved).
The movie is uncertain where it wants to take the viewer (proof the alternate ending on display/disc),but the ride is still entertaining enough to take. Just don't expect anything to fancy and you'll be satisfied
I really liked it!
I must say, this is one of the more bizarre and interesting movies I've watched in a long time. The twists were great I thought. Very unexpected outcomes.
We all need to suspend our disbelief when watching anything, maybe that was a problem for the people that gave this such a low rating on IMDb, but for me, the writing and acting made me stick with it, and I'm glad I did!
So far, any movie I've watched with Tobey Maguire has worked for me, I think it's because he picks vehicles that are interesting. He is one of my favorite actors and never disappoints.
Solid 8 stars!