Everything Must Go

Everything Must Go

29 October, 2010
by: Naima Khan

Will Ferrell plays a lack lustre alcoholic in the lack lustre Everything Must Go.

For all its left-field casting, Everything Must Go remains an archetypal American movie starring a down and out Will Ferrell. It begins with one of those check-lists for life and ends with Bob Dylan singing I Shall be Released. It even features an unlikely (but predictable) friendship between a middle aged man and a bullied school kid that transcends race and economic status.

Not exactly steering clear of his funny man persona Ferrell quite seriously takes on the role of relapsed alcoholic Nick Halsey. Based on Why Don't You Dance, the short story by Raymond Carver, Dan Rush's Everything Must Go sees Nick lose his job and his wife on the same day. After his car and last ounce of dignity are taken from him, he decides to live on his front lawn as unproductively as he can.

Nothing about this film is that remarkable except Christopher Jordan Wallace who plays the kid that becomes Nick's new best friend. Will Ferrell as Nick Halsey is not a performance or a character that will change the way people will think of Ferrell though he probably doesn't care about that.

It's difficult to have any sympathy for Nick, what with his selfish alcoholism annoying his bosses and and cruelly taunting his recovering addict wife. Rush makes a mistake in not showing Nick's wife. Their waning relationship is a huge part of why Nick is out on the lawn in the first place. Without seeing his wife it's difficult to figure out who deserves our sympathy. 
 
Rebecca Hall also stars. She is (as usual) great but her character is better. Pregnant Samantha is Ferrell's new neighbour – someone he hasn't pissed off yet- and is willing to be kind, listen and eat with him occasionally though she's wary of inviting him in. Their relationship is intriguing and real. Perhaps a little too real, that is, it's not that interesting. Though it's nice to hear each of them talk about their relationships in the half-assed, pseudo analytical ways we often do.

Packed with melancholy, there are a few absorbing moments in Everything Must Go. For instance Ferrell's trip to see an old high school acquaintance (Laura Dern) after he discovers the somewhat hopeful message she left in his yearbook. It's touching, and  though you know rooting for him will be fruitless you kind of do it anyway. Dern is also superb in her minor role.

For an indie film, this flick had a heck of a budget and a few big names but neither presentatoin of the story nor the characters warrant such effort or expenditure. 

Click here for more on the London Film Festival
Click here for more Things to do in London

Naima Khan