So, I actually saw this movie the first weekend it was out but I am just now getting around to writing the review for it. The attitude I’m displaying towards writing the review pretty closely mirrors my general feelings about the experience of the movie as a whole.

This was by no means a bad movie. It was actually pretty good. I appreciated some of the choices they made.

There is a scene where RDJ, dressed all snazzy, puts on black sunglasses and walks away from a large black vehicle and it doesn’t blow up. I was memorized by the lack of explosion in a way no explosion has ever done.

The plot had enough twists not to be a boring slice of life story but nothing too big that I was like, that could never happen in Indiana.

And it is obvious that the actors genuinely believe in this move and the role, none more so than RDJ. He was blowing up Twitter before the release. The movie deals with alcohol issues and family drama that probably resonates deeply with him.

The acting is as good as you would expect with the cast they put together.

Visually, the movie is rich with real world colors and appropriate lighting to organically set the mood.

Here comes the bad news (or the good news for some). This movie would have been just as good if I had waited and rented it from Redbox.

The success of this movie is in the story. So there are no epic scenes that a large screen enhances. The acting and plot are meant to draw people in. Such individual engagement doesn’t need a $10 ticket to be enjoyable.

It also is a movie you could pause and pick back up. It doesn’t demand full attention. You don’t have to watch it twice to fully understand what you are seeing. Each idea is acted so efficiently and written so well, added to a plot that isn’t really all that difficult to follow in the first place, that you could mess around on your computer and still feel like you knew the movie in its entirety.

Now, none of these things are actually bad and the movie is very pleasant, but I am not surprised that it wasn’t a smashing hit at the box office.

Final Thoughts: Definitely watch the movie but maybe wait until you feel like having a night in where you don’t watch a romcom but still want a man on the screen or until you are trying to impress someone with your cinematic taste and don’t want to pick something flashy or trendy or wannabe.