Brad's Status

Gore Vidal notoriously said, "Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies," which could be this movie's subtitle. Interesting subject matter I think, but this movie could have used more of an outright plot. Whether I'm right or not, this movie had the feel of having been written with a vague direction in mind but no structured outline set down beforehand. (The long bar conversation with the big-brown-eyed girl kind of came out of nowhere and I suspect did, to the writer as he sat at his laptop.) Ben Stiller was okay, but I felt his regular (facial) expressions of resentment could have used more variety and nuance. Knowing both ends of: not thrilling at running into people as I puttered along with nothing to brag about, to suddenly being put in charge of huge projects covered in the international press that suddenly made me the star of dinner parties, I found this an interesting movie, but wanted more of a story than a collection of vignettes. (For those who liked them, this movie I felt could almost go together as a sort loose trilogy with Stiller's GREENBERG and PERMANENT MIDNIGHT.)

source: Brad's Status

This movie is based on a very interesting concept about a mid-life crisis and accepting one's course in life. Told mostly from the perspective of a man trying to do what's best for his son, while coming to terms with his own course in life and career outcome. The ideas stem from deep issues about how we build a life and come to accept its evolution, especially in comparison to our peers. The son is the gem in the movie. Austin Abrams plays him with enough awareness to make us respect him, but enough naivety to make him realistic as a teenager, including the body language and lack of words that are common in that age group. This is a fine performance, deserving of an award. Jenna Fisher does a very credible job as a responsible mother and career woman, trying to cope with her own job, her son and husband. Ben Stiller's performance leaves much to be desired. Part of the time he speaks like a grown man whose script has been reduced by filtering it through a teenager's vocabulary. All three also use the f word, which is not needed and distracts from the script. Mr. Stiller could have done a lot more to portray the maturity of a middle aged person, while still conveying the crisis in his understanding of life. He also interacts with his peers on the level of a college student, rather than a mature intellect. Overall, the script and execution of the story are weak. For concept alone, the movie could be rated high. But, the execution is only fair, leading me to rate it a 5 in total. Finally, the ending is a non ending. Someone should have brought in a movie writer to write an ending for this.

There's not a lot to say about this film, not that it is bad, its just that it's not particularly good. What was good, however, was watching it on a media which allowed me to to skip ahead and save a little bit of time. Having said that, I realize that I just admitted to getting a discount of something that I didn't want in the first place.(a cup-half-full moment). It felt like I was taking an uncomfortable journey on a path leading back to where I started from. Ben can act, but probably shouldn't put his talents to subject matter which toy's with the fringe of depression, cos he will make you feel that way.

Ben Stiller hasn't performed a good character in a long time. When the most memorable scene in a film is about an attempt to upgrade an airline ticket at the airport its weak. It's a sketch stretched to the length of a film. It revolves around a sad sack kind of a character who is essentially drags his feet from place to place since graduation. In comparison with the truly great films I saw during 2017 Tiff Brads Status is remarkably weak, not bad enough to walk out unless you are hungry, but weak enough to say to others that this is "going through the motions" film making. No tension, no drama, no characters to empathize with - no nothing.

"Brad's Status" begins like a coming-of-age film about a young man interviewing colleges as he embarks upon adulthood. But the coming-of-age experience is more applicable to the boy's father, who is experiencing a peculiar mid-life crisis about "status." In the bonus track of the DVD of "Brad's Status," the writer-director described the film as a personal drama about "status anxiety." Brad is overly concerned with competition and what others think about him. In a scene where he reunites with an old college chum, the friend never even recalled their relationship as competitive. For poor Brad, the glass always seems half empty. One of his realizations in the film is that "sometimes in life, you can lose the plot." Indeed, Brad has lost his narrative, and it takes his perceptive son get him back on track. The film stretched credibility by making Brad's son far too wise beyond his years. The same was true of a young musician friend of the son, who takes the father to school with life lessons, telling him simply, "Trust me; you have enough." It may be difficult for most of us struggling to earn a living to relate to Brad's status anxiety. But despite its shortcomings, the film has some thoughtful dialogue, and Ben Stiller is excellent in the role of Brad. There are many heartfelt moments where the poor schlub begins to realize how full and complete his life really is.

Gore Vidal notoriously said, "Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies," which could be this movie's subtitle. Interesting subject matter I think, but this movie could have used more of an outright plot. Whether I'm right or not, this movie had the feel of having been written with a vague direction in mind but no structured outline set down beforehand. (The long bar conversation with the big-brown-eyed girl kind of came out of nowhere and I suspect did, to the writer as he sat at his laptop.) Ben Stiller was okay, but I felt his regular (facial) expressions of resentment could have used more variety and nuance. Knowing both ends of: not thrilling at running into people as I puttered along with nothing to brag about, to suddenly being put in charge of huge projects covered in the international press that suddenly made me the star of dinner parties, I found this an interesting movie, but wanted more of a story than a collection of vignettes. (For those who liked them, this movie I felt could almost go together as a sort loose trilogy with Stiller's GREENBERG and PERMANENT MIDNIGHT.)

"Brad's Status" is a comedy-drama from the co-writer of "The Emoji Movie". Notice that the marketing for this hasn't led with that. But Mike White has done his penance here; this belongs up there with some of his best work like "School of Rock" and Jennifer Aniston's "The Good Girl". The hero is Ben Stiller though, who plays the title character, whose reached a point in life where he can't help but find his life lacking when compared to others, particularly his friends. And we've heard about movies that shine an uncomfortable light on us all; I know i've heard people say "mother!" does this, although many of us still have no idea what it's shining a light on. But here it's actually very clear and very brilliant the way this film looks at things like achievement and idealism in America and how the striving for success and to put that bumper sticker on the car shouting it out can have an adverse affect. Much of this film is Brad going through an inner-monologue with himself so be prepared for a lot of narration, but the fears he has are never ones you can't relate to and his hopes always something we feel the American dream should be, even when they're ridiculously selfish. The best part about the film is that Stiller always feels like a character who has lived in the real world and who has had a natural progression from the way he thought in his youth to the way he feels now. There are a number of profound moments here- one scene between Stiller and a young college student one of the best of the year. It's a slow moving movie but always compelling. So I go 8 out of 10 guys. If you liked this, check out Craig James Capsule Reviews on Youtube.

Very-very-very boring movie with exceptional dull script and annoying (you can't imagine how!) soundtrack... this violin! and you know why this movie so really bad? Because all this nonsensical stupid uninteresting bla-bla- bla they do for one (1) minute when Indian girl say very cliché speech about WHITE MAN PRIVILEGE. And you know, this is not a revelation all they say in this movie, and all this leads nowhere, because you see, more important if they say about RICH MAN PRIVILEGE... but, well, they rich - because they - work and they have no moral orienteers... but wait, they give money some guys like Brad. And this colonialistic-imperialistic pigs broke caste system in India, so this Indian girl from low caste can go learn in Harward and do her bla-bla-bla about WHITE MAN PRIVILEGE. So, this is really stupid movie.

I hadn't seen a Ben Stiller movie in a while and this one kind of came out of nowhere. Very little marketing and promotion meant that when I saw it was released I was surprised, but it is reflected in its low budget. The movie follows Brad (Ben Stiller) who is disappointed with his life, since all of his friends became very rich and successful in life. The plot revolves around him going to Harvard with his son, who is trying to get into the university. The rest of the plot if filled in with learning more about Brad and his successful friends, whilst his son is really only there to move the main plot forward. It all felt a bit slow, which was not helped by the sweeping camera shots with no speaking and Brad's narration that is a bit too frequent. However, when things eventually happen in the plot it is good. It made me feel sad for Brad at times, yet happy when he realised what was truly important in life. The key message, of course, is that money does not equate to success and this movie certainly delivers that well. What I also enjoyed was that although this message has been littered in numerous movies, Brad's Status delivers it in a refreshing format. Although Brad's Status will not wow you, it is certainly a good movie. The plot is nothing new and it may feel slow at times, but it will bring a smile to your face in the end. Regardless of whether you like Ben Stiller's previous performances or not, this will be a worthy addition to your watchlist, especially at this time of year when it can be chilly!