I picked up “Unfinished Business” on a whim at Redbox, based on the trailer. High art this isn’t, and it was pretty universally scorned by critics, yet there are some interesting things happening within the project as a whole that kept it mostly watchable.
Vince Vaughn plays Dan Trunkman, who works for a corporate ice queen, oddly named Chuck, and played by Sienna Miller. Dan arrives at work one day to find she has reduced his commission for his latest deal, and the confrontation becomes personal. And in some ways, unrealistic as most managers aren’t going to tell someone to their face that they’re replaceable, in front of a roomful of people. Yet because of how stuff happens in workplaces in a less overt manner, what the scene portrays will still resonate with a lot of people.
Dan tells her off and quits on the spot, thereby fulfilling fantasies held by workers everywhere, leaving a huge “Now what?” question mark in the air. The question is answered when Dan invites any of the assembled parties to join him (outside in the parking lot) in his new venture which will compete directly for business with his now ex-employer. None of the other employees take him up on it. He winds up with post-Social Security age Tim McWinters (played by Tom Wilkinson) and the opposite end of the spectrum, young neophyte Mike Pancake (Dave Franco). Mike is not only young, he is completely without any guile whatsoever. Tim has just been terminated for being too old to work, which is of course completely illegal unless he’s a pilot or air traffic controller. Of course, companies do this all the time; it’s just that the illegal reason would never be stated. Some critics may feel this represents a plot hole, but I contend all of the workplace encounters are simply real life situations that are dramatized to remove any real life ambiguity, and make it concretely obvious to the audience what’s going on. I further contend it’s nice when filmmakers don’t assume audiences are stupid, even while appreciating the messaging.
In the middle of the two extremes, we have middle-aged family man Dan.
Vince Vaughn has never struck me as an actor who does well with too much screen time. He functions best as part of an ensemble, as he does here, in a Clark Griswold style straight man. I’m using Clark as the example because at its heart this is a road trip movie. When the trio hops on a plane to seal an important business deal, all sorts of road trip hijinks unfold. As with so many other road trip movies, revelations develop along with the capers, and we get to learn something about the individuals. In that sense the movie is more cohesive than critics are giving it credit for.
Think of this movie as the anti-Birdman. Birdman of course celebrated the unique world of the actor and Hollywood fell all over it as a result. In Unfinished Business, ordinary people are in the spotlight. Everyone has a tortured life, everyone feels something of a misfit, and everyone has an uncharted wild side. In addition, the surprisingly sensitive treatment of Dan’s two children, who have their own problems, further humanizes and fleshes out his character.
You couldn’t find a wider variety of humanity than what parades across the screen all through this movie. Yet, the focus always goes to what connects people, and how these connections transcend barriers. The movie was interesting enough on that basis alone. It’s a bit annoying that there is a surplus of gratuitous raunch (not to mention drug use) that keep this film solidly in R land, but the annoyance gets outweighed somewhat by various endearingly positive messaging. Some of it is simply overt “persevere and you will succeed” messaging but enough laughs are provided along the way, to prevent the message from being clichéd.
To me the trouble is that the movie seemingly tries to incorporate elements of two different styles of comedies. I never can understand why people with that much money can’t hire a good editor, my mind always goes to what could have been. Had they kept the constant Hangover-style raunchy material and shock value to a minimum, and focused more, for example, on exactly what type of business deal this was supposed to be, maybe this wouldn’t be a movie that parents have to shield their kids from watching. With some judicious editing and rewriting, the screenplay could have yielded a much more compelling film, resulting in better box office, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find this finding a lot more viewers on DVD.
I have to admit, I forgot that this movie existed. I was a Vince Vaughn fan back in his early days before he became famous. It was interesting watching him try different things some of which worked and many of which did not. But after he hit it big with Old School, his shtick became lazy. Nothing ruins a comedic actor like success. For the last several years, Vaughn has seemed bored with his own movies. If he doesn’t like them, why should I bother watching them? But I’ll give this one a try if I see it on cable… Read more »
I think that sums up Vince Vaughn up to this point quite well, especially the points of his shtick becoming lazy and that he seems bored with his own films. Maybe what has been said about Eddie Murphy applies to him, in that things became too cozy, and he wasn’t around enough funny people.
I can totally see why guys like Murphy and Vaughn fall into this trap. On the one hand, they can try to branch out and do something challenging. But every time they do, audiences reject it. On the other hand, they are being offered huge paychecks to sleepwalk through some idiotic comedy. Why risk failure when you can do the bare minimum and collect a big fat payday for doing so? The scripts are stupid and lazy and they are counting on guys like Murphy and Vaughn to punch them up with their bits. But after a while, the same… Read more »
I can understand the dilemna myself. Hey, did you like “Made”?
I liked Made. After Swingers, I was a little let down by Made. But it was worth a look.
It is true that it often gets rejected, but don’t forget that Robin Williams and Tom Hanks both had success with serious roles. Heck, it is hard to remember anymore that Hanks was only a comedic actor for the first part of his career.
I loved Made. It’s no Swingers of course, but what is? Swingers is the better film, but Made made me laugh more, if you know what I mean.
I need to rewatch Made. I went in with expectations set pretty high based on my love of Swingers. I liked it, but I didn’t love it.
You can say the exact same thing about Adam Sandler too.
Was Sandler ever funny?
I found Sandler funny early on when I heard his first comedy album They’re All Gonna Laugh At You. I still maintain that’s the funniest thing he ever did. Punch Drunk Love was great (although a lot of the credit for that has to go to Paul Thomas Anderson) and I admit to a certain guilty pleasure enjoyment of Happy Gilmore and The Wedding Singer. But even as a teenager (which I was when Gilmore and Billy Madison were released) I found a lot of his schtick to be pretty juvenile. On the whole he’s put out more dreck than… Read more »
Adam Sandler: 5 Reasons He’s No Longer a Movie Star: https://www.yahoo.com/movies/s/adam-sandler-5-reasons-no-longer-movie-star-210250228.html Is it game over for Adam Sandler? His new comedy, “Pixels,” opened over the weekend to a mediocre $24 million, a disappointing result for the $88 million project. Sandler’s latest box office lemon comes on the heels of “The Cobbler” (Sandler’s lowest-grossing title ever, which opened to just $24,000 from 20 theaters in March), 2014’s “Blended” (the Drew Barrymore reteaming that mustered $46 million), “That’s My Boy” (a pairing with Andy Samberg that eked out $37 million) and “Jack and Jill” (the cross-dressing comedy that landed some of the… Read more »
You won’t be bored, although I can’t even imagine how much would have to be edited and just plain deleted to be shown on TV. Actually it might make it a better movie, who knows
Oh I don’t watch edited movies. I meant on a cable channel that doesn’t edit content.
If Adam Sandler was ever funny is open to interpretation (I do like “The Wedding Singer” a lot, and I think “Happy Gilmore” is okay. I thought the one CD of songs he had was decent too; I especially liked “The Lonesome Kicker”), but he does do the whole “pats on the back, bring your buddies and tag along director” deal, so with him and his circle busy being pleased with themselves, having a good time, or just glad to be along for the ride, I suppose he would qualify as this type. I think Adam Sandler reinvented sleepwalking, so… Read more »
It is impossible for me to determine when Sandler stopped trying because even in his best movies, he was phoning it in. Murphy and Vaughn at least had early movies where they were really going for it. Sandler went from lazy to comatose.
I think where the Vaughn/Sandler comparison doesn’t hold up is, this doesn’t appear to be an all expenses paid vacation for the same people. I never heard of the director for UB, and other than Vaughn and Miller, I’m not familiar with any of the cast either. It’s particularly enjoyable to watch actors and actresses I’m not familiar with, in weird roles, and this movie was all about weird roles and situations. I wasn’t kidding about the variety aspect. In the same movie you have suburban businessman dad, German businesswoman in bathhouse, art hotel, youth hostel, old guy ordering prostitute… Read more »
If I was to venture a guess when Adam Sandler Stopped trying completely and kept Dennis Dugan on emergency speed dial (nothing against Dennis Dugan, but seriously already) was when Y2k hit. I think you’re right that even in his best work he wasn’t going all out. Going back to his SNL days his act was sophomoric, like he was the guy in high school with the armpit jokes. So no, when Eddie Murphy was in his prime he was a revelation (I’m still not going to fall for the banana in the tailpipe), and Vince Vaughn can be a… Read more »
I can take his sophomoric man-child schtick back one step further. MTV used to have a game show called Remote Control that I loved as a kid. He was one of the regulars on the show that would come out and do a bit. He usually played “De Stud Boy” who, surprise, surprise was a moron that talked funny. Even that was pretty lazy, though it was kind of funny at the time because it was his first acting role where he could do his own comedy. Colin Quinn was also a regular on that show and I think that… Read more »
Currently hip comic performers like Amy Schumer, Louis C.K., Lena Dunham and Melissa McCarthy make Adam Sandler look dumb and dated in comparison — but he’s been making this bed for himself for a long time.: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/critics-notebook-pixels-puts-final-811037?utm_source=twitter What went wrong? Adam Sandler’s name on a film was never a guarantee of either yuks or bucks, but once upon a time — back when Saturday Night Live’s Opera Man was transitioning to the big screen in occasionally charming fare like The Wedding Singer — it inspired more hope than dread. Today, with Pixels getting burnt by critics and his latest moneymaking… Read more »
Lebeau and everyone,
If you like Vaughn, and have not seen “The Internship”, the full movie is in the Youtube lineup featured after the clip above! I imagine, until Youtube catches on and removes it. Recommended!