"Best Man Down," another addition to the group of movies I would never have seen without my Netflix account, is certainly a movie in which critics and I differ in opinion. "Best Man Down" opens with a teenage girl sitting in a snow covered field leaving a message for an unknown person, then immediately cuts to a wedding reception in Arizona. Scott (Justin Long) and Kristin (Jess Wexler) are enjoying a romantic dance after tying the knot, then along comes the best man Lumpy with shots of alcohol. Lumpy (Tyler Labine) continues to drink like Jim Morrison throughout the night, and is found dead outside of his hotel in the morning. Scott and Kristin now must head back to Minnesota to plan Lumpy's funeral, and during the process they uncover things they never knew about him.
"Best Man Down," was made with a small budget and had very limited financial success taking in less than ten thousand dollars at the box office. The movie is best described as a drama comedy; it focuses more so on the drama aspect, but there are some laughs. This is director Ted Koland's first movie, so it does lack direction at times, but for a novice director he does an admirable job. "Best Man Down" has so much to offer because it is not about sex or cheap laughs, it is about love; the unconditional love a man can form for a total stranger, and the renewed love a married couple must find for each other.
Justin Long and Jess Wexler play a convincing married couple who are put in a stressful situation, which immediately dissipates their post wedding bliss. They also begin to realize that they may have decided to share their lives without getting to know the each others' intimate details. Scott is unhappy in his career and didn't have enough money to pay for his own honeymoon, and Kristin seems to be a walking pharmacy, opening a purse to reveal eight or so different medications. Now I have read critic reviews that claim they do not seem like a genuine married couple, but I disagree. Numerous people get married before living together, or fully knowing that we are all a little crazy, even their future wife or husband, and Long and Wexler's performances depict that side of marriage rather than the norm.
Although Lumpy dies within the first fifteen minutes of the movie, numerous flashback scenes grant the audience insight into his past, and allow Tyler Labine to give a stellar performance. Labine, who has the potential to be the John Belushi of our generation, ironically adds depth and consistency to a character named Lumpy. The friendship he forms with Ramsey, a teenage girl living with her mother and her mother's crystal-meth making boyfriend, becomes a beacon of hope that maybe good guys still exist. In a feat of great acting, Addison Tamlin (Ramsey) plays a morose teenage girl in this movie the same year as her role in "Stand Up Guys" as a chipper waitress in her 20′s. Tamlin added a certain element of sadness to "Best Man Down" creating character that is a Juno/Plath hybrid; stirring up emotions reminiscent of those seeing the puppies at the pet store, you just want to give her a good home.
"Best Man Down" is genuine in a world where movies are scared to be themselves. A beautiful story that inspires one to go out of their way to help others, with a few laughs. The perfect example that box office success can never create a great movie (Spiderman 3 cough cough). Excellent acting and a solid story come together to create emotions that make even the manliest of men say, "I'm not crying, there is just something in my eye."
"Best Man Down," was made with a small budget and had very limited financial success taking in less than ten thousand dollars at the box office. The movie is best described as a drama comedy; it focuses more so on the drama aspect, but there are some laughs. This is director Ted Koland's first movie, so it does lack direction at times, but for a novice director he does an admirable job. "Best Man Down" has so much to offer because it is not about sex or cheap laughs, it is about love; the unconditional love a man can form for a total stranger, and the renewed love a married couple must find for each other.
Justin Long and Jess Wexler play a convincing married couple who are put in a stressful situation, which immediately dissipates their post wedding bliss. They also begin to realize that they may have decided to share their lives without getting to know the each others' intimate details. Scott is unhappy in his career and didn't have enough money to pay for his own honeymoon, and Kristin seems to be a walking pharmacy, opening a purse to reveal eight or so different medications. Now I have read critic reviews that claim they do not seem like a genuine married couple, but I disagree. Numerous people get married before living together, or fully knowing that we are all a little crazy, even their future wife or husband, and Long and Wexler's performances depict that side of marriage rather than the norm.
Although Lumpy dies within the first fifteen minutes of the movie, numerous flashback scenes grant the audience insight into his past, and allow Tyler Labine to give a stellar performance. Labine, who has the potential to be the John Belushi of our generation, ironically adds depth and consistency to a character named Lumpy. The friendship he forms with Ramsey, a teenage girl living with her mother and her mother's crystal-meth making boyfriend, becomes a beacon of hope that maybe good guys still exist. In a feat of great acting, Addison Tamlin (Ramsey) plays a morose teenage girl in this movie the same year as her role in "Stand Up Guys" as a chipper waitress in her 20′s. Tamlin added a certain element of sadness to "Best Man Down" creating character that is a Juno/Plath hybrid; stirring up emotions reminiscent of those seeing the puppies at the pet store, you just want to give her a good home.
"Best Man Down" is genuine in a world where movies are scared to be themselves. A beautiful story that inspires one to go out of their way to help others, with a few laughs. The perfect example that box office success can never create a great movie (Spiderman 3 cough cough). Excellent acting and a solid story come together to create emotions that make even the manliest of men say, "I'm not crying, there is just something in my eye."