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The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard
By John Mulderig
Source: Catholic News Service
David Koechner, Kathryn Hahn, Jeremy Piven and Ving Rhames star in the movie "The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard." |
Let the buyer—in this case, the ticket
buyer—beware. "The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard" (Paramount Vantage)
is a shoddy, vulgar comedy that relies on humor and language as sordid as the
strip clubs its characters frequent.
In a last-gasp bid to save his failing
used-car dealership, Ben Selleck (James Brolin) summons a team of crack
freelancing sales types led by legendary smooth talker Don Ready (Jeremy
Piven).
As the newcomers work to clear the
inventory, romance buds between Don and Ben's engaged daughter, Ivy (Jordana
Spiro). This is OK, because—of course—Ivy's fiance, Paxton (Ed Helms), is a
childish, smug dunce who is secretly conspiring with his father, auto importer
Stu (Alan Thicke), to undermine Ben's reviving fortunes.
In one of the few redeeming aspects of
Adam Stock and Rick Stempson's script, freewheeling Don yearns to settle down
and become a family man.
But two of Don's go-getters become
enmeshed in less traditional—supposedly amusing—romantic entanglements.
Middle-aged Brent (David Koechner) finds himself the object of unwanted
advances from Ben, while hard-edged sales gal Babs (Kathryn Hahn) pursues Ben's
son, Peter (Rob Riggle), a 10-year-old with a pituitary condition that has
given him the body of a full-grown man.
Fueled by such tasteless material,
director Neal Brennan's comedic lemon grinds its gears and goes nowhere.
The film contains strong sexual content,
including adultery and brief graphic nonmarital sexual activity, full nudity,
drug use, about a dozen uses of profanity, and pervasive rough and much crude
language. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O—morally
offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R—restricted; under
17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
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Mulderig is on the staff of the Office
for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
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