The Details (2011)

I don't like reading long reviews, so I'll be brief:

1. If you like dark comedies, this is for you. Just buy it right now.

2. If you're still on the fence, I loved the ending.

3. You still don't know if you want to get this? Casting was superb. I wasn't so sure about Tobey who is just so darn nice, but by the end of the movie, you'll agree that Tobey was ideal.

4. Okay, this is not a terribly deep movie, but I enjoyed the full 101 minutes of it. Isn't that the definition of a 5-star movie?

THE DETAILS is a wickedly delicious dark comedy...a very dark comedy.

Tobey Maguire plays a young married doctor whose life seems to be continually spiraling downward, primarily because he keeps making poor choices. It's not that he's really a bad person; it's just that he seems to get himself trapped in desperate situations and, in order to save himself at the moment, he makes the wrong decision.

I'm not sure if Tobey's problems started with the raccoons that were destroying his lawn or his deciding to renovate his house without getting a building permit. Or, maybe it was the fact that he and his wife (Elizabeth Banks) had not had sex in many months.

Would you believe that any one of those seemingly relatively minor events could result in murder?

I don't want to be a spoiler, so I'm not going to detail the events that cause Tobey to sink further and further into his quagmire. Watching him do so is half the painful fun of this likable offbeat movie, written and directed by Jacob Aaron Estes.

THE DETAILS was filmed in Seattle and features a superb cast of supporting players that includes Dennis Haysbert, Ray Liotta and Kerry Washington. Laura Linney, who plays Tobey's whacky and meddlesome neighbor, delivers the film's scene-stealing performance.

The Blu-Ray disc from Anchor Bay Entertainment include a both an alternate beginning and ending, both of which were best left on the cutting room floor.

© Michael B. Druxman

Buy The Details (2011) Now

I love an oddball quirky indie, when it doesn't try too hard to be an oddball quirky indie. You can pretty much surmise the plot from reading the cover. Jeff (Tobey Maguire) has not been having sex with his wife (Elizabeth Banks). Romantic that he is, he asks her by spelling out the F-word. He confides his problem in a friend (Kerry Washington) listed as "the other fling" on the cover. They are caught by her husband (Ray Liotta) listed as "The Problem" who demands money. His rodent problem leads to other issues which include "The Fling" with the "wacked out" neighbor(Laura Linny). And since there is a guy called "The Fixer" (Dennis Haysbert) you can only guess correctly at this one.

The film had a great plot and the acting was great except for the lead. It was clear the cast was acting rings around Toby Maguire who doesn't have the talent to be a leading man. Similarly this reminded me "Snow White and the Huntsman" where our leading lady stood out like a sore thumb. If you like dark comedies and can stomach another bad performance by Mcguire, go for it.

Parental Guide: F-bomb, sex, brief shot of Elizabeth Banks butt.

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Tobey Maguire (miscast, got no business playing opposite anybody as hot as Elizabeth Banks [Sorry Spidey], but still it sort of works) is 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, things started to improve up to the crescendo where Toby uses his Prius to commit the murder of an errant raccoon, and confesses everything to Banks including knowledge of a murder. 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 (he lives in Seattle and 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. There is also a good scene with Ray Liotta on the bridge that sort of sets up Maguire's catharsis and signals the turning point in the movie.

Could also be titled, The Devil is in...the Details; No Good Deed Goes Unpunished; The Truth Shall Set You Free--Sort Of; & Wherefore Absolution? The philosophical and moral issues it raises could start at least half a dozen threads on a philosophical board all by themselves. 9/10

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I am lazy and disabled and I watch a lot of movies. I have gone a little crazy with buying movies instead of renting so I don't have to drive and they are delivered to me. BUT and this is a big but. Don't be an idiot and buy this movie, rent it.

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