This review more rightly belongs in the Politics, Religion/Philosophy, or at least Random forums. But......here we are. Parts is parts, rules is rules. So.
It stars Toby McGuire (miscast, got no business playing opposite anybody as hot as Elizabeth Banks, but still it sort of works) as a doctor who gets himself in what appears to be a minus five sit-com. The absurdity had me wanting to get up and leave 4 or 5 times, but just when I thought all was beyond hope, Toby uses the Prius to commit the murder of an errant raccoon, and confesses everything including complicity in a murder to his wife. It is an absolutely outstanding scene, and lifted me up out of the muck I'd been wallowing in.
Suffice it to say that his troubles are initiated by the continuing irritant of excessive bureaucratic government regulations and social pressures (the Prius has an Obama sticker on the bumper
, and he's even afraid to hose a raccoon much less shoot it. Guns...ick.) After reciting the litany of his transgressions and betrayals to her in the car, he says, "OK, so far that's the good news". The last 10-15 minutes are priceless and worth the muck to get there. Elizabeth Banks is superb in that scene, and Laura Linney is great throughout as the neurotic, obnoxious next door neighbor.
Could also be titled, "
The Devil is in the Details", "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished", "The Truth Shall Set You Free--Sort Of, or "Wherefore Absolution?". The philosophical and moral issues is raises could start at leas half a dozen threads here. 8/10
Nov 12, 2012 @ 04:03:25
--which reminded me of Toby's confession to her in the car, and she starts laughing to the point of collapse. 
