Overall rating: ★★★☆☆
Nick is a hopeless, incompetent, lazy, jobless alcoholic. I wouldn't even want to imagine living with such a father or a husband. While Nick does show some transitions throughout the movie, still, I don't like the character that much. How he is depicted in the film arouses more of sympathy and pity than of repulsion, but however cold-hearted I may sound, I think he deserves to be punished by being fired, divorced, or betrayed by his friend. To me, it just seemed that he didn't try hard enough to fight alcoholism. He was in a favourable circumstance in which his friend offered help, and yet, he merely expresses irritation and annoyance at disasters that suddenly fall upon him. Does Nick overcome his challenge in the end? Does he have hope? Well, I still doubt whether he had entirely fought off his difficulty.
About the film, I think Ferrell's acting was mediocre. His acting wasn't fabulous, I would say, as it gets somewhat boring in the middle, but he succeeded in conveying Nick's character through his lukewarm attitude or manner of speech. One drawback regarding the casting was the black boy. Not only was his acting clumsy, but his character still remains oblivious until the end. The black boy could definitely have added more spark to the film with better acting or more distinct character.
In overall, it was an okay film!
Nice review Heejae. I like that you gave it an official star rating. I think I'd give it half a star more. I agree about his character. I don't think we are supposed to like him that much at first. But we are supposed to watch him grow and come to terms with why things ended up the way they did. Complacency is the enemy of progress. Had he been allowed to continue his path, he would of. But his wife forced him to wake up. I'm not sure why the cheating thing had to enter the picture, but generally the film is effective, and I actually think the boy played his part well. His pesonality contrasted Nick's and Nick was able to learn something by mentoring him. Maybe Nick had never been in a position to look out for someone else. He's a loveable loser - a very common Hollywood character we see in many films. Good posts!
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