Everything Must Go (Roadside Attractions)

Everything Must Go

Studio: Roadside Attractions
Written and Directed by Dan Rush

May 13, 2011 By Rachel Venuti

It's late at night. You are driving down your block. Do you a) sing along to your iPod as you pull into the driveway or b) turn down the music, slow down the car, and lean over the steering wheel, craning your neck to peer inside your neighbors' windows? Yeah, I do it too.

Everything Must Go is the story of a man forced to turn this concept inside out, to let the neighbors see the shame and detritus of his life not through the living room window, but out in the open.

Dan Rush's adaptation of Raymond Carver's "Why Don't You Dance" follows Nick Halsey (Will Ferrell), a once-successful salesman whose career and marriage have been ravaged by alcoholism. Nick arrives at work one morning to discover he's been fired. He arrives at home that same morning to discover his wife has left him, locked him out of the house, and dumped all of his possessions out on the front lawn.

What happens next is a dark but touching exploration of the human spirit expertly acted by Ferrell, Rebecca Hall, Laura Dern, and Michael Pena. Everything Must Go is a reminder that we can never really hide from our neighbors. And maybe that's not such a bad thing. (www.everythingmustgo-themovie.com)

Author rating: 7/10

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Average reader rating: 8/10