The Details

Tobey Maguire going crazy, and why? Because of his Garden? Well not only, there are reasons too. Plus who can be mad at Raccoons, aren't they adorable? (No I'm the only one that thinks that?) Seriously though: The movie and the shenanigans from all involved are sort of over the top, but still decent enough to watch. The cast list reads really great (Mr. Baldwin giving a speech that is life changing or at least should be for the character involved).

The movie is uncertain where it wants to take the viewer (proof the alternate ending on display/disc), but the ride is still entertaining enough to take. Just don't expect anything to fancy and you'll be satisfied

Tobey Maguire is a pitch perfect anti-hero in this bizarre, absurd, dark movie about love and raccoons. The movie plays like a demented fairy tale, replete with butterflies, rainbows and cross-bows. The audience I saw it with was in stitches. But this isn't really a comedy. I wouldn't even call it a black comedy. I'd say the movie is more of a magical absurd comedy, if that is even a genre. It plays like a fever dream, swinging wildly between realism and camp. I was surprised about 100 times during the watching of this film, and to tell much more about it would just spoil the fun of it for you. Suffice to say, you will not get what you're expecting. If you want something normal, this isn't it... I will warn that sometimes the movie makes your stomach turn, as you're forced to live in the shoes of a morally suspect character... but I think that was the point. There are no good or bad people in this movie. There are only morally gray people, who behave like raccoons... hungry, horny, needy and desperately seeking worms... I was lucky enough to see it in a recent festival screening. I think it will be really interesting to see how general audiences respond....

Harvey Weinstein clearly had a case of buyers remorse when he spent $7.5 million for the rights of The Details at Sundance and then spent the next two years keeping it off his calendar and having it re-edited without the director. In usual Weinstein fashion he eventually lost interest in the film and dumped it in a handful of theaters and video on demand. The result is a watchable, but unsuccessful black comedy about a philandering doctor and the people he takes down with him, when raccoons take over his yard and begin to drive him nuts. The tone is all over the place and while most of the cast does good work, we are subjected to a rare terrible performance from Laura Linney. She over acts to a embarrassing degree and stops her scenes cold in their tracks. The subject matter of infidelity, blackmail and being caught is too weighty for The Details' light as a feather approach to the material. Nothing really resonates and the film feels hollow and never goes as far in the black comedy route as it should. The resolution of the film sidesteps any challenging material for an ending that is rushed in one conversation. Perhaps the original cut of The Details addressed these issues, but I doubt we'll ever know.

Dejavu... that's the word that comes to my mind when I finished this movie... this movie reminded me a great deal of 'American Beauty' due to its technique and dramatization... American Beauty has a way different story, but both of those movies get to you in a similar manner... how one event of least importance can turn your whole world up-side-down in time to comes, the details tells you about that very convincingly...

The acting has been tremendous... Other than the spiderman series I have known Tobey Mcguire from the cider house rules, in which his acting was commendable... but the details has a different character for him to tackle and he did it quite well... Laura Linney and Elizabeth Banks are veterans and I do not recall them throwing away their character every before... but the best thing about this movie is the screenplay... hats off to the writer who knows how to whirl the story through the time streams gently... every act was calculated and didn't feel like unnecessary or miscalculated at all...

My recommendations... do see it!

There's scarcely anything than better than a fierce, biting black comedy on a bright, sunny morning and Jacob Aaron Estes' The Details delivers one and then some. Not only does the film give us a wonderful premise with efficient character actors, but it's the way that we dive into these socially and morally complex people that makes it such a wonderfully black experience. Rarely has a film bottled me with so much guilty, unadulterated pleasure and rarely have I liked it so much.

Tobey Maguire, one of my favorite actors, plays Jeff Lang, a doctor in suburbia with a lovely wife, a cute kid, and a Toyota Prius. As a doctor, he lives a moderately enjoyable life, but he feels rather unfulfilled with the lack of pleasure in his life sexually and literally. His wife, Nealy (Elizabeth Banks) rarely is in the proper mood, even when the kid is asleep, so Jeff frequents various pornographic websites to satisfy his typical male urges.

But it's to the extent he goes to satisfy his deeply unsatisfied urges is when The Details takes off and becomes almost fearless. Jeff decides to commit an act of infidelity with a close friend named Rebecca (Kerry Washington). They wind up having sex and it's all downhill from there once her husband Peter (the great Ray Liotta) finds out. Upon discovering the situation, he gives Jeff two possible options on how to keep him quiet about the situation and both are equally dismaying.

The shocking thing is even after this small adventure into cheating, Jeff still isn't completely satisfied and winds up accepting sex from his quirky middle-aged next door neighbor (Laura Linney). While this is all happening, Jeff's other newfound interest is attempting to rid his backyard of raccoons who have been persistently digging up his sod.

The Details brings to light two different things about the masculinity of males that can not be ignored; their quest for sexual pleasure and their desire to accomplish difficult and demanding tasks. The fact that the film explores these deep, inner urges of most males' psychs is a challenge from the writing department and it allows the viewer a deeper, larger motivation for the despicable steps taken by the anti-hero Jeff.

Because Maguire has now completed his odyssey with Sam Raimi's Spider-Man franchise, it's pleasing to see him try out different lines of work to hopefully become known as a character actor, with roles like this and Seabiscuit under his belt. Here, he immerses himself into the deeply complex and ambiguous role of Jeff Lang and his diversity and hidden talents come forth in this black comedy of errors. This film is now available on video on demand and will be in selected theaters on November 2, 2012. Make an effort to see one of the funniest, blackest, and most deliciously subversive comedies in years.

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Elizabeth Banks, Laura Linney, Ray Liotta, and Kerry Washington. Directed by: John Aaron Estes.