Last Picture Company, The, CatchPlay, Corner Store Entertainment
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Natalie Portman, Devin Brochu, Rainn Wilson, Piper Laurie, John Carroll Lynch, Audrey Wasilewski, Frank Collison, Paul Bates
T.J. (Devin Brochu) is a young boy, living with his grandmother and his father who is devastated by the death of T.J.’s mom a few months before. The family is struggling when suddenly T.J. makes friends with Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who is a strange, strange person. Hesher is rudely crude, and has no sense of right and wrong and says the most inappropriate things all the time, but has a wise side. Often his stories are crude and lewd but pack a great message. T.J.’s relationship with Hesher is really strained as he looks up to him and needs help, but Hesher gets him in so much trouble, especially when T.J. develops a crush on grocery check out girl Nicole (Natalie Portman).
This film starts out as a crazy screwed up comedy, and you think it’s too silly to be worth anything, but as you stick with it, the thing really grows on you. Hesher is such an ass. He lived in his van, and loves to blow up stuff, and suddenly moved into T.J.’s house and annoyed everyone, but nobody threw him out or called the cops. But Hesher is much deeper than that, and has some redeeming qualities, and has a pretty good message if you can get past the vulgar antics and inappropriate outbursts. Rainn Wilson is T.J.’s dad, and plays the deeply depressed Dad pretty perfectly. Many days he never gets up, and he does nothing most of the time. Between the three of them, Hesher, T.j. and Nicole, they try to bring the family back together again, in some very strange ways.
It’s amazing the wisdom that comes out of Hesher’s mouth in the most disgusting ways! The humor is good, but there’s a great look into depression, loss, and pain that can’t be overlooked as it’s a main part of the story. It was a horrible thing that this family went through, and it’s going to take a lot to get them back together again, and certainly Hesher may not be the right man for the job. It’s a very bizarre film, but the sucker really grows on you, and if you don’t get disgusted and turn it off in the first 15 minutes, you will have a lot to take in and think about. Not a bad independent film.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
