Working Man

Robert Jury's mesmerizing film, WORKING MAN, is a gut-wrenching and timely portrait of a factory worker, Allery Parkes, movingly and masterfully portrayed by Peter Gerety. The plastics factory where Allery works has shut down and his life is left without a sense of purpose. As his days pass slowly, Allery begins trudging back to the closed and empty plant trying to fill his void. His journey each day takes him toward what he has always sought - a sense of purpose and worth that comes from knowing that what you do matters in this world. During this pandemic which has left multiple unsettlingly voids in all our lives, Allery's odyssey intimately becomes our own journey to unearth what matters most and what truly gives purpose. WORKING MAN is a quietly unforgettable and searing personal experience.

I tuned in for Peter Gerety, an extraordinarily gifted actor, and was pleased to find that Billy Brown absolutely held his own, and then some, as his co-star. The movie also has its heart in the right place-- with the working class-- and it has a fairly fresh idea, with an unpredictable plot, and characters who are not one-dimensional, including not just laborers at the plastics plant (stay tuned for more on plastic), but management and corporate, too.

My frustrations may seem minor, but I think the movie was undermined by two bad decisions.

First, the imbalance of dialog between Brown as Walter Brewer and Gerety as Allery Parkes. Brewer is charismatic and talkative which is a stark difference from Parkes, who is given less than the bare minimum of lines to make him seem real. Gerety's character shut down after his son's suicide, but to a degree that doesn't help the film: it's unnecessarily severe. When a character is that withdrawn, I always wonder why anybody bothers to stick around-- including me.

Second, and this may seem petty, but I'm serious: Talia Shire had no business playing Mrs. Parkes. I'm not talking about her acting ability. I'm talking about her plastic face: the amount of cosmetic surgery she has obviously had undermines every scene she's in, especially when she's counting coupons at the grocery store. Once a performer gets that much work done, they forfeit the right to play a working stiff, or his wife.

This is a gentle movie, about people, work and our minds. Nice for a rainy evening.

I am generally really hard on movies this is the first 10 star I have ever given, and I will tell you why. This movie touches on so many bases I will tell you what they are without giving any spoilers. Which is hard because I want to tell you my favorite parts but can't without ruining the story. This is a story about love, family, hard work, loss and kindness to your fellow man. I would add one more thing it had different races and even a transexual. None of this was to be P/C they were all in this because they were part of the story not forced in to just cover P/C bases. Proving what I have said all along you can have different races, genders and people who are of different sexual orientation if you write a good script in this case a great script. No one felt like they were put in this movie because they had to put them in there just to be P/C. They had two starring characters one white and one black and their race never came up why ? In reality not in P/C world if you make a friend of another race you don't see their race you see your friend. I am from a mixed family myself and I don't look at my family as a different race I see people I love. Let me be clear this movie isn't about race at all its about human beings and their stories. The fact that they wrote it this way and I thoroughly enjoy it Is sad and its happy its a roller coaster of emotions. I can't say anything else without giving up a part of the movie. I will just say this is a drama a well casted, a well written and a extremely well acting job by the whole cast I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

It has beautiful and emotional idea but the acting is weak , weak scenario, and there is no good conversations or qoutes , bad direction.