This movie was just all right. It features Mark Wahlberg as Jim, and Jim owes a great sum of money to the kind of people you really don’t want to owe. He laments his position and life choices to his college english class, where as the author of a somewhat highly praised novel a few years ago, he is an associate professor. He continues to dig deeper holes for himself, making things worse when his mother cuts him off.
It is hard to feel sorry for Mark’s character. He comes from wealth, has had a pretty easy road for most of his life, yet doesn’t seem to care about anything and just feels sorry for himself. He talks a big game about what we as a people should do with our lives and abilities, yet seems comfortable doing nothing himself. The dialogue in this film is pretty great from start to finish, but it hides a fairly mediocre plot which takes a meandering path with weird offshoots here and there. There are great supporting parts by Michael K. Williams and John Goodman, with the banter between them and Wahlberg being the real highlights of the film. But overall it is pretty forgettable and not worth more than a single viewing on the basic cable circuit when it makes it there.
Jons Movie Takes 