Brad's Status (2017)

Brad is a 40-something American living a ordinary life with his wife, and son Troy. He has a pretty good job, a pretty good home… a pretty good life. He goes on a trip with his son to look at his possible future colleges, and because of certain circumstances along the way, he ends up getting back in touch with some old, arguably - more successful friends, and then starts to doubt himself and his life choices.

What a good plot for an easy watching comedy, with Ben Stiller in, right?

Wrong.

I mean, the story was fine, and this was played out well. It had a message behind it, which you understand throughout, you are experiencing everything with Brad, as we get a glimpse inside his mind. We get a visual representation of his thoughts, and sometimes this is where the humour is. Thinking about it though, I genuinely didn’t find this that funny. I think I belly laughed once, and after that I didn’t even let out an amused ‘snort’. To be honest, Brad annoyed me. He was being a massive whiney bastard. He kept talking about how great he had it, and then kept convincing himself he could be better, but he didn’t try and do anything about this, at any point in his life… B O R I N G.

This film was so SO badly paced. It was getting on for 2 hours long, and my god did it feel like it. I felt like I was in the cinema for a decade. The cast looked so great, and I was sure that this was going to give it a boost, but it didn’t. I mean, of course Ben Stiller was fine – he’s Ben Stiller, he knows his way around a light-hearted comedy. Mike White – WE DIDN’T EVEN HEAR HIM SPEAK. He’s a genius, and he didn’t even write himself into this properly, the one redeeming feature I thought this film was going to have just wasn’t there.

Of course, though we had Martin Sheen (DISH). Again, we just don’t get a lot of him. But we got a decent chunk towards the end of the film, and he did his job. We learn about his character throughout, and hear stories about things he’s said, or done previously, and the kind of person he is, and it’s nice to actually meet this character, and then see that the actor is playing up to what is let be honest, pretty much the job description for this casting, but done well.

I think the biggest thing that kept me going through this was Austin Abrams. His performance wasn’t phenomenal, because there wasn't much space for a stand-out performance... but he played a bored, grumpy, pissed off at my dad for flirting with my friends, 17-year-old well. He was also 100% the funniest, maybe that’s because I understood him, and his character wasn’t overly cringe.

The score in this was annoying, it was like elevator music, but the elevator stops for too long at each floor with the door open, and a cold wind comes in. Irritating.

Sure, it was a pretty film, but nothing was shot exceptionally well.

This film was bad, because I was bored. It’s a comedy, and I was bored. Honestly, this was all down to the fact that it was all over the place. There was no structure, and it really showed. I don’t think I’d never watch this again.

3.5/10

CINEMATES - S