LD Entertainment, Mark Gordon Productions,

Tobey Maguire, Elizabeth Banks, Laura Linney, Ray Liotta, Kerry Washington, Dennis Haysbert

Jeff Land (Tobey Maguire) is a doctor, living a boring but comfortable life in the suburbs with wife Nealy (Elizabeth Banks). But Jeff isn’t very happy. He has a child and his wife seems to have lost all interest in him. They’re never intimate anymore, even when the kid is asleep, so Jeff turns to internet porn to satisfy his needs. Furthermore, as pesky group have raccoons have decided to dig up Jeff’s yard, doing major damage reminiscent of Bill Murray’s character in “Caddyshack”. Like groundskeeper Carl, Jeff takes on a war with the raccoons that takes up his time. But he further strays into cheating with a couple different neighbors, and finds himself in deeper hot water due to his urges and the way he tries to satisfy them, in this dark comedy that hits home in a number of way to most of us.

This is basically a peep into the male psyche on two levels. The lengths we men will go to fight dragons and wage our own war once we get an idea in our heads. Jeff could probably solve the raccoon problem with one phone call, but instead he gets obsessed with fighting the war himself. The second is the length we will go to to satisfy our cravings when we’re missing the love and attention at home. Instead of battling the problem in his marriage and trying work things it’s, it’s easier to bury yourself in other dangerous endeavors.

This is an interesting departure for Tobey Maguire. He’s obviously known for his portrayal of Spiderman, which was pretty awesome, but outside of Seabiscuit, we haven’t been able to see a lot of stuff from Mr. Maguire. He plays this role pretty well, and does a fine job. My problem with the film is that it’s a bit slow, and though it has a few interesting parts, much of it is like watching paint dry. Laura Linney is good as the lonely neighbor who offers herself up as one of Jeff’s conquests, but aside from that, there’s not a whole lot going on here. All in all, it’s a fair film, and has some interesting character development, all in all, there’s just not enough going on to keep it from falling flat. If you’re interested in the subject, or a fan of Tobey Maguire, give it a shot, but for most of it, there’s better stuff out there. This is available on Watch Instantly on NetFlix now, so it’s easy to give it a try if you’re interested and see if it appeals. But for the most part, I shrug my shoulders, and say, “Oh, well.”

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rate this movie:
Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)
Movie Review - The Details (2011) {R}, 5.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating

Leave a comment

Name: (Required)

eMail: (Required)

Website:

Comment: