Don Verdean - Der Zweck heiligt die Mittel

Leaving the theater, the general feeling was "meh". Possibly based on Yiddish origin, it's a general shrug of the shoulders meaning neither good nor bad.

The best way to describe this movie is to say it's not funny enough for a comedy, but not serious enough for a drama. Rather than combining words and calling it a dramedy, I'd suggest keeping the same words but flipping the order, calling it a coma. The movie just never seem to get going. If intended as a light- hearted story, the laughs were just too few and far between, even though the premise itself was humorous. Meanwhile, the basic story of a Biblical archaeologist down on his luck was just a bit too silly for a drama. I'm a big fan of Sam Rockwell, Jemaine Clement, and Danny McBride, but this wasn't a great vehicle for any of them.

It's a shame, because some aspects of the movie were very well done. The cinematography was fantastic, for example. Don't get me wrong, this wasn't a bad movie. It just didn't do much for me. Your mileage may vary.

Having lived in an area that has experienced religious artifact fraud that led to murders I have a special appreciation for this film. It was tactfully sarcastic, so gentle in the telling but got its point across. It would offend no one but you understand. Almost like the most beloved American writer would have handled it a hundred and thirty some years ago. Mark Twain didn't care too much for religion either.

This film is like a slow burning fuse. The first two thirds are mildly funny and if you saw it in a theater it would have caused you to make a few polite chuckles. But the last third, I was laughing so hard I was crying. Like a good joke, you have to set it up to make the punch line work.

I saw it by myself, but hours after I saw it I would remember parts of it and start laughing all over again. My wife kept asking, "What are you laughing about?"

In this movie Sam Rockwell plays the titular character Don Verdean who is an amateur archaeologist hunting down religious artifacts. When Don is asked to retrieve the skull of Goliath things spiral out of control.

Although the jokes did not always work that well the writers did a great job at implementing them in the movie as most of the dialogue based jokes came very naturally and never really felt out of place. The story itself is where the movie falls apart though. Characters almost never really act out of character and it really felt as if they were living in that world instead of on a comedy set. However it quickly becomes very clear that the story is artificially set up. In fact the events that happen in the end of the movie seems so out of place and sudden that it's clear the screenwriters didn't really know where to go and just needed an ending.

The one redeeming factor about the movie is the acting. Although I think their acting qualities were severely underutilized Sam Rockwell, Jemaine Clement and Amy Ryan really put down a believable performance. The chemistry between the actors/characters does seem to be there but the director does not seem to be able to capitalize on that.

I do think that the recipe behind 'Don Verdean' could have provided a pretty fun comedy movie. With a better director and a better story the movie could have been a pretty good comedy, sadly as of right now it is just a well acted flick paired with a very mediocre story with some good laughs here and there.

My rating: 4/10

Don Verdean Sundance Film Festival Director: Jared Hess Since the sleeper success of 2004's Napoleon Dynamite, Jared and Jerusha Hess have had an interesting track record. Regardless of how their work is received by audiences and critics, they have maintained a cinematic style that is, to say the least, unique. Don Verdean (Sam Rockwell) is a biblical scholar and archaeologist who has built his career on excavating and preserving artifacts from the good book —the film's opening scene features an antiquated documentary in which Verdean tracks down the shears that Delilah used to cut Samson's hair. After his career slows down, he, his Israeli fixer Boaz (Jemaine Clement), and his research assistant Carol (Amy Ryan) agree to a contract with Tony Lazarus (Danny McBride) to track down more artifacts in order to keep his congregation from joining that of Pastor Fontaine (Will Forte), a former Satanist turned Christian. As pressures mount, Verdean begins to compromise his standards in pursuit of "filthy lucre," as Boaz puts it. From an acting perspective, the performances are great. Rockwell and Clement have great comedic chemistry, and Amy Ryan grounds the film with her genuine sincerity. That being said, there is still something indulgent in this film— almost like team Hess has packed it full of inside jokes that only resonate with themselves. It might be time for them to come out and play with the rest of us. –Alex Springer

Most of the negative reviews you see for "Don Verdean" are the same as the negative reviews for "Gentleman Broncos." It all boils down to one basic idea: "This movie isn't enough like other movies I like." Professional reviewers and users alike miss the boat on these movies because they want them to fit in a neat little package. You'll hear a lot about how they didn't feel the movie worked as a straight comedy, or straight drama, or that mixing biblical jokes with more adolescent jokes doesn't work. They are missing the point. This is not meant to be a single genre, or even really a mix of genres, instead it is an examination of characters, ideas, and themes.

Unlike many other movies, "Don Verdean" (and "Gentleman Broncos," for that matter) is not looking to work as a whole, indeed these movies reject the idea of balance and chemistry as proscribed by mainstream films. Instead, DV is about about the details. Each moment of the movie has been engineered, largely without a thought for the other moments. In the Hess world, if something is interesting that's reason enough to include it, regardless of how it fits together with other pieces.

It's not inherently worse than other films (in fact, you'll see tremendous talent in the film-making, the acting, and the script); it's just a completely different approach. So see "Don Verdean," not because it's more of what you already like (and have) but because it isn't.