Meet Bill

Five Word Synopsis: Murray’s last five roles (castrated).

Alternate Five Word Synopsis: NOT about Mr. Bill. Dang.

Point

Alex:  Starring that guy from Thank You For Smoking in a slightly less smarmy role, Meet Bill is about a man trying to not get slapped in the face by his wife and in-laws quite so much. Luckily, some scruffy teenager helps him try to win back his wife, who apparently won’t stop sleeping with local D-list celeberties, instead of, I don’t know, dumping her.

Apparently no one told the producers of this movie that it is no longer socially acceptable for a guy in his thirties to hang out with high school kids that are not related to him, even if their relationship is both non-predatory and appropriately whimsical. It’s probably a good thing that they forgot this, though, because it makes it so much harder for a band of misfits to get anything done.

C-

COUNTERPOINT

Jim:  So giving the pathologically-handsome Aaron Eckhart a confusingly unnecessary comb over and an ‘I only jog once or twice a week’ paunch transforms him into a sad sack? A sack sad enough to have Jessica Alba as a comedic foil?
A sack sad enough to have a creepy mutual mentor/mentee relationship with some kid from High School? (Do they know that Rushmore wasn’t a documentary? This isn’t a thing that actually happens, once it’s been covered you can just go ahead and come up with a new idea).

Enough of a sad sack to simultaneously get back at and try to win over the wife he is in a completely shitty relationship with?

Haven’t they ever seen the movie they’re making, and do they think we haven’t?

F-

 WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED

 Alex: Never before has a “Street-smart stranger helps everyman protagonist make his life awesome” movie seemed this watchabe. Which is saying almost nothing, but still.