Everything Must Go

Theatrical Release Date: 2011 05 13 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 031398142195

Studio: Lionsgate

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Profanity, Sexual Situations]

Summary: Will Ferrell offers his fans a change of pace as he takes on a rare dramatic role as a man struggling to hold his life together. Nick Halsey (Ferrell) was once a successful salesman with a happy marriage, but years of drinking are finally catching up with him, as he's fired from his job and his wife has decided she's had enough. Nick's wife has kicked him out of the house and moved all his possessions onto their front lawn; hoping retain a bit of dignity and maybe raise some cash as he plots his next move, Nick puts a yard sale sign on his stuff and tries to convince the neighbors (and the cops) that he's simply selling some junk he doesn't need anymore. As Nick makes believe he isn't homeless in between beers, he strikes up a friendship with a kid from the neighborhood (Christopher Jordan Wallace), tries to reconnect with a girl he loved in high school (Laura Dern), and bonds with his neighbor Samantha (Rebecca Hall), who is pregnant and struggling to get by while her husband is away on business. Based on a short story by Raymond Carver, Everything Must Go was the first feature film from director and screenwriter Dan Rush. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Film Presented – Tribeca Film Festival Film Presented – London Film Festival

Features: Audio commentary with director Dan Rush and actor Michael Pe?a
"In character with Will Ferrell" featurette
Behind-the-scenes featurette
Deleted scenes

Everything Must Go

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 09/06/2011

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 2.40:1

Audio: DHMA null

Runtime: 97 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English,Spanish

Region: Blu-ray region A (North America, Central America, South America, Japan, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia)

Jason Buchanan

A bit too precious to truly resonate yet possessing a sense of unguarded honesty that's difficult to deny, writer/director Dan Rush's adaptation of Raymond Carver's short story "Why Don't You Dance?" does benefit from a particularly strong dramatic performance by Will Ferrell -- dutifully walking the well-worn path of comic actors who strive to be taken seriously -- though its low-key, oppressively somber tone belies its somewhat quirky premise. Suddenly fired from his sales job after years of service, aging alcoholic Nick Halsey (Ferrell) returns home to find that his wife has changed the locks on their posh suburban home, and moved all of his possessions onto the front lawn. Later, after Nick welcomes his new neighbor Samantha (Rebecca Hall) to the block and strikes up a friendly conversation with young Kenny (Christopher Jordan Wallace), whose mother works down the street, Nick's car is repossessed and his credit cards are canceled. Drunk and depressed on his own front lawn, Nick narrowly avoids getting arrested before being informed by his pal Detective Frank Garcia (Michael Pe?a) that city residents are permitted to hold yard sales for no more than five consecutive days. With that, Nick puts up a yard sale sign, hires Kenny as his main salesman, and does his best to appear as if everything is business as usual. Despite appearances, however, Nick's life is still falling apart. Only by letting go of the possessions that keep him bound to his troubled past will Nick finally find the courage to trust the new people in his life and find true happiness on his own terms. Back in 2004 -- the same year his breakout hit, Anchorman, hit theaters -- Ferrell showed moviegoers that he was much more ambitious than many might have suspected with an appearance in the Woody Allen film Melinda and Melinda. Two years later, Ferrell's Golden Globe-nominated performance in Marc Forester's meta-comedy drama Stranger Than Fiction proved to audiences that the loud-mouthed funnyman was also capable of a convincing range of emotions. There aren't many laughs in Everything Must Go, but when they do come, they seem specially tailored to Ferrell's unique brand of physical humor -- a touch of reckless impulse driven by brain-damaged bravado. Perhaps, given Ferrell's iconic status, it was smart of Rush to front-load Everything Must Go with some of the film's most effective comedic moments; by showing Ferrell in a somewhat comic light before the heavy drama kicks in, the more serious elements of the plot carry greater dramatic weight, and the complexity of the character comes through a bit more vividly. Nonetheless, it takes more than a strong lead performance for a film like Everything Must Go to really hit the mark, and while as a director Rush seems to have a natural affinity for working with actors, as a screenwriter he's still got some developing to do. The lead performances in Everything Must Go each contain enough unique subtleties to prove that Rush certainly has a gift for getting his actors to hit the right emotional notes; however, the further the story develops, the more Rush the screenwriter starts to overplay his hand. Not so much that it draws us out of the film, but just enough to blunt the emotional impact of Nick's sincere struggle with alcoholism. Even then, Rush does accomplish some pretty impressive feats with his screenplay: not only does he manage to create a fairly rounded character (Halsey's wife) without ever even showing her face, but a brief scene between Ferrell and Laura Dern highlights those pivotal yet fleeting moments from youth that define our true character to others, even when we bear no trace of the memory. These scenes hint that as a writer Rush has more to say about the human condition than he addresses in Everything Must Go, and though he hasn't mastered the fine art of storytelling just yet, it will be interesting to see how this skill develops as his career progresses. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Cast and Crew: David Torn  Composer (Music Score) 
Wyck Godfrey  Producer 
Celine Rattray  Executive Producer 
Marc Erlbaum  Executive Producer 
Marty Bowen  Executive Producer 
Marty Bowen  Producer 
D. Scott Lumpkin  Executive Producer 
Andrew Greenblatt  Executive Producer 
Dan Rush  Director 
Dan Rush  Screenwriter 
Bill Hallman  Executive Producer 
Will Ferrell  Actor 
Christopher Jordan Wallace  Actor 
Rebecca Hall  Actor 
Michael Peña  Actor 
Rosalie Michaels  Actor 
Stephen Root  Actor 
Laura Dern  Actor 
Glenn Howerton  Actor 
Argos Maccallum  Actor 
Todd Bryant  Actor 
Jason Spisak  Actor 
Tyler Johnstone  Actor 
Kyle Sharkey  Actor 
Scott Takeda  Actor 
Matthew Dearing  Actor 
Leeann Dearing  Actor 
Chris Cook  Actor 
Steven Scally  Actor 
Andy McDermott  Actor 
Lance Gray  Actor 
Narinder Singh  Actor 

Country: USA