Movie: Brad's Status
Starring: Ben Stiller, Austin Abrams
Writer/Director: Mike White
Rated: R
On September 26, I returned to Cinema Arts Theatre to see Brad's Status. This is my sixth MoviePass movie, bringing the per movie price down to $1.66. My goal at this point is to make it to 10 movies before the month is up, making every movie a dollar movie--it's definitely within reach!
The plot of Brad's Status is simple: 47-year-old Brad Sloan (Stiller) takes his son Troy (Abrams) to visit colleges on the East Coast, including Harvard and Tufts. Brad is neurotic to say the least, an insomniac bundle of anxiety given to comparing his accomplishments to those of his old college friends. It doesn't help that these old friends are now a millionaire hedge fund manager, a start-up tycoon, and a famous political writer and pundit, respectively.
Still, by all objective criteria Brad is doing great. He and his wife Melanie (Jenna Fischer) are happily married. They live in a nice house in Sacramento, where she works for the government and he runs his own non-profit. Their son Troy is healthy, intelligent, musically gifted, and to all appearances much more well-adjusted than his father. (And if he seems familiar, that may be because he played the ill-fated Ron on The Walking Dead.)
Yet Brad lies awake at night thinking about how other people perceive him, how little respect he gets, how few opportunities remain open to him. Something about taking his son on a journey to choose one from many possible futures triggers Brad big time, and as his anxiety spirals he manages to publicly embarrass Troy in ways only a parent can. It's painful to watch.
When he spills his guts to Ananya (Shazi Raja), an idealistic young student at Harvard, she gives voice to what could presumably be the primary complaint about this movie: Brad's status anxiety is self-absorbed and self-centered, the type of grievance only a privileged white male has the luxury to indulge in. In other words, a first-world problem. Her critique is a fair one, but expressed with the brutal honesty of a twenty-something with her whole life ahead of her. From the standpoint of middle age, it's possible to understand and pity Brad, to have some compassion for his regrets, even if you don't necessarily share his fears.
I enjoyed this movie despite its often cringe-worthy moments and Brad's internal monologue of neurosis. Brad still has the capacity to experience profound emotions, to be moved by beauty. As it turns out, even a 47-year-old still has a little life left in him.
Starring: Ben Stiller, Austin Abrams
Writer/Director: Mike White
Rated: R
On September 26, I returned to Cinema Arts Theatre to see Brad's Status. This is my sixth MoviePass movie, bringing the per movie price down to $1.66. My goal at this point is to make it to 10 movies before the month is up, making every movie a dollar movie--it's definitely within reach!
The plot of Brad's Status is simple: 47-year-old Brad Sloan (Stiller) takes his son Troy (Abrams) to visit colleges on the East Coast, including Harvard and Tufts. Brad is neurotic to say the least, an insomniac bundle of anxiety given to comparing his accomplishments to those of his old college friends. It doesn't help that these old friends are now a millionaire hedge fund manager, a start-up tycoon, and a famous political writer and pundit, respectively.
Still, by all objective criteria Brad is doing great. He and his wife Melanie (Jenna Fischer) are happily married. They live in a nice house in Sacramento, where she works for the government and he runs his own non-profit. Their son Troy is healthy, intelligent, musically gifted, and to all appearances much more well-adjusted than his father. (And if he seems familiar, that may be because he played the ill-fated Ron on The Walking Dead.)
Yet Brad lies awake at night thinking about how other people perceive him, how little respect he gets, how few opportunities remain open to him. Something about taking his son on a journey to choose one from many possible futures triggers Brad big time, and as his anxiety spirals he manages to publicly embarrass Troy in ways only a parent can. It's painful to watch.
When he spills his guts to Ananya (Shazi Raja), an idealistic young student at Harvard, she gives voice to what could presumably be the primary complaint about this movie: Brad's status anxiety is self-absorbed and self-centered, the type of grievance only a privileged white male has the luxury to indulge in. In other words, a first-world problem. Her critique is a fair one, but expressed with the brutal honesty of a twenty-something with her whole life ahead of her. From the standpoint of middle age, it's possible to understand and pity Brad, to have some compassion for his regrets, even if you don't necessarily share his fears.
I enjoyed this movie despite its often cringe-worthy moments and Brad's internal monologue of neurosis. Brad still has the capacity to experience profound emotions, to be moved by beauty. As it turns out, even a 47-year-old still has a little life left in him.
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