This is not Zach Braff at his best. Even the lovely Amanda Peet strains slightly. However, Jason Bateman revels in his role and makes the movie.
Zach Braff is in danger of getting typecast as a mopey semi-witty semi-slacker which he once again plays, as Tom Reilly, in this throwaway but enjoyable movie. He is a line chef in NY and his wife Sofia (Peet) is just about to have a baby. He loses job on same day baby born. They decide to downshift back to wife’s home-town in Ohio. Her Dad, played very nicely by an ancient looking Charles Grodin gets him a job in the utterly demented advertising agency where he also works. His “mentor” in this job is the Ex, played by Jason Bateman. Wheelchair bound since childhood, he is obsessed with destroying Reilly so he can re-claim Sofia for himself. What follows is a standard “he’s crazy, why won’t anyone believe me?” plot-line as the two of them face-off and the one-upmanship escalates. There is a great story with the next-door kid who can eat burgers whole but overall there are no surprises as the movie heads towards the climax. A few small scenes involving his wife going to mother and baby meet-ups really were not enough of Amanda Peet. She’s pretty much wasted here. A braver director would have extended the nutty environment of the advertising agency offices out into the entire movie. By not doing so, you almost have two movies within one. Still, a nice wee movie that’ll make you smile with a few big laughs here and there. Now I’m missing Arrested Development and Studio 60 again.
Rated /5 on Sep 23 2007 by Conor O’Neill
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