I saw this Michael Cera film at the library and took it home. Made me laugh. It's based on a novel that I haven't read. I did put it on my library request list. I don't normally read more mainstream novels but it might be funny and occasionally I like a humorous novel. Michael's playing an introverted lonely guy who lives with his mom (Jean Smart) and her boyfriend (Zach Galifianakis) in Oakland California. Michael's life is pretty sad but it's going to get much more interesting. Zach sells a crappy car to some sailor. When the sailor comes around looking for his money back Zach buggers off out of town with Jean and Michael. They hole up a tiny trailer in a trailer park near a lake a couple of hours outside of Oakland. Michael falls for the pretty Portia Doubleday. Her father and mother are played by M Emmet Walsh and Mary Kay Place. The couple are seriously religious and have a giant pipe organ in their two story trailer. They are a bit of a stumbling block in Michael's quest for Portia's love. His own brain is a bit of a stumbling block on the path to his one true love. The imaginary French guy leaves a lot of collateral damage. That's both the physical type and the emotional type. No matter who's behind the wheel, Michael does some dumb ass things. Lucky for him he gets off pretty lightly and no one gets killed. Too bad about that nice Lincoln though. Still, it's a worthy sacrifcice for the love of one's life. Especially since it wasn't his car.
Steve Buscemi, Justin Long, Fred Willard and Ray Liotta all have a few nice scenes each. All the actors are pretty entertaining, even the ones with small roles. People move in and out of the story as it progresses. In the commentary Miguel Arteta, the director, and Michael Cera talk about introducing new characters through the movie. It's not something that seems to bother me but they both mentioned that some viewers don't like it. Seems to me it's the sort of thing that happens in real life. I'm always meeting people and then never seeing them again. Mind you, it can be weird what can turn people off of a movie. Michael Cera gets a lot of drubbing on the internet for playing the same sort of characters and some people just seem to hate him. I liked him in Arrested Development and have seen a few of his movies. I have a couple more on my NetFlix queue but don't expect to see those for a while. I often like the small independent type of pictures that he picks to do. This was an 18 million dollar film that about made it's cost back. There was talk of a sequel adapted from the 4th book but that was a while ago. I doubt that I would need to pick up a copy of the dvd but it was entertaining to watch.
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