There is the usual legal disclaimer at the beginning
of this movie but with the tag line ‘in reality, every bit of this happened
just like you are about to see it’. It’s
difficult to keep that in mind when for the next 90 minutes you are exposed to
the meaningless life of a wealthy alcoholic hipster and the woman he drinks
with. One can only hope that for his own
sake that filmmaker Adam Sherman’s life cannot really be as bizarrely pointless as
this.
So the plot of this sort-of-love story is how Zach a
divorced playboy spends the bulk of his day working through the girls listed in
his cellphone until one of them agrees to go for a drink with him. More often or not its Rebecca and she goes
along with the pretext that Zach is finally taking her to the Hieronymus Bosch Exhibition as he always promises, but she knows they will end up at a bar
drinking. Its usually the same one where
Zach’s only friend Dan tends bar and so keeps his drink topped up. When Rebecca’s actual boyfriend comes looking
to teach Zach a lesson, its Dan who fights him whilst Zach just sneaks behind
the bar and pours himself another drink.
Rebecca sleeps with Zach but she doesn't actually put
out. When challenged on this point the
movie gives us its one good line with ‘Even Jesus drank wine and spent time
with a hooker that he never has sex with’.
Zach’s other non-relationships are just as fuzzy. His over-protective parents fail to see the
wasted drunk their son and heir has become, and in turn he makes a lousy job
trying to be part-time father to his only son.
His cheating ex-wife tends to be just fond of Zach’s wallet when she is
in between boyfriends. And gold digger persistent phoner Autumn is just after his money period.
It’s really tough being rational about a movie when
the protagonist is so thoroughly unlikable and he leads such a senseless
life. Zach is after all, an uninteresting selfish alcoholic nacissitic womanizer total
devoid of any joy or any morals.
I like to find some redeeming value in this movie, and
all I can think of is that maybe it would be a perfect one to watch if the rain
outside means you may miss you regular AA meeting. If you can sit through it to the end, this
will surely sober you up.
★
★
