Oh, Will Ferrell. Will Ferrell can be so damn funny, but he has long ago become a very overexposed comedian. I still think he's hilarious, and has given us one of the funniest films of the past decade, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. But when it comes to something that was obviously meant to be a star vehicle for him, such as The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, Ferrell knew well enough to only show up in a cameo. It's a pity, then, that the rest of this movie, with such a ridiculously long title that it probably took 90 minutes (the film's running time) to be devised, is as foolish as most Will Ferrell comedies.
The plot of The Goods revolves around Don Ready, a shyster car salesman who takes a team of salespeople across the country to push up sales at floundering dealerships. Don is played by Jeremy Piven, who can be funny. He has been funny in Entourage and in his explanation for backing out of Speed-the-Plow. Ready is not a bad character for him to play, but like recent comedies Year One and Land of the Lost, the movie he's in just dies on arrival. In short, and I hate to make the pun, and be the millionth person do so, but...this movie does not have the goods.
What's disappointing is the talent involved. Jeremy Piven, Ving Rhames, David Koechner, Kathryn Hahn, James Brolin, Ed Helms, Alan Thicke, Craig Robinson, Ferrell...All of these people are funny. All of them have the capacity to be good in films. And all of them are wrongly used or barely onscreen. What of the weird subplot where Hahn tries to sleep with Rob Riggle, playing a character who looks 30 but is really 10? What of Rhames' subplot, where he tries to find true love with a hot young stripper? What of Brolin wanting to sleep with Koechner? What of Alan Thicke, people? What of Alan Thicke?
Like the other two failed summer comedies I mentioned, I really wanted to like The Goods. I laughed once. I wanted so badly to give this movie a break. But, and I apologize for the shortness of this review, it's hard to explain why jokes aren't funny. If you don't laugh, you don't laugh. The Goods is a movie that tries so hard, and in doing so, fails to get any laughter. Bad comedies are always painful to watch, but bad comedies populated by some of the most talented funny people in Hollywood is excruciating.
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