Digging for Fire

Rosemarie dewitt, jake johnson are lee and tim, who stay in a friend's house on a vacation. While there, tim finds a gun and a bone in the back yard dirt. And obsesses over digging up the yard to find more, with a bunch of loud, rowdy friends. Lee takes the kid and drives to her parents, which seems to be the beginning of a naughty night for her. Appearances by orlando bloom, sam rockwell, judith light, ron livingston, mike birbiglia. Tim does a whole lot of philosophizing, in between shovels of dirt. He doesn't seem capable of just plain small talk. Lots of scenes stapled together, but not much of a story. A clever scene when lee says "daddy is home, doing his homework"... cut to daddy, smoking a joint, as the camera pans past the tax forms. I'm guessing they won't be invited back to stay at this house! They dig up the yard, wear the owner's clothes, and break things. Terrible people. Directed by joe swanberg. Dewitt is married to livingston, probably best known for office space! He and johnson have appeared in other films directed by swanberg. Jude, the young boy also happens to be the director's son! It's a bit slow... needed more of a cohesive story. It could have been great.

This is a movie about nothing. That's fine for a half-hour episode of Seinfeld, because it's amusing and entertaining. This movie is neither. It's humorless, tedious and somewhat painful to watch.

I like slice-of life movies. I don't need action. I don't need anything to really happen as long as I experience something I normally wouldn't experience in everyday life. This movie is anyone's very ordinary everyday life with some amount of coincidence and absurdity added. Rather than creating interest, though, these devices only prevent anything genuine from emerging.

Only one of the two main characters is believable, and both lack color and depth. That's a serious flaw in a movie where almost nothing happens. A transformation of sorts does take place, but it feels contrived. The events leading up to the transformation don't in any way suggest that it should occur, or why.

I'm giving the movie 4 out of 10 because someone might get something from it, and because there are a few brief moments that I liked. Also, the acting is at least adequate.The movie is inferior, but not horrible. Observing everyday life on a long walk would be a better way to spend 90 minutes, though.

Sometimes things have to be found. Sometimes they do not need to be found, but stay buried. But even the latter might need a bit of a refresh or redo of sorts. You'll understand once you've watched the movie. A movie that while romantic in some sense also will appall quite a few that will not like where the characters are going or what they are doing, literally and metaphorically speaking.

I'm not sure if it was just the script or something else, but the movie did attract a lot of talent. Some even just for really small roles, like Anna Kendrick and most better known to independent audiences, but still more than just stellar and performance wise really elevating the whole piece (no pun intended). It may be slow and it may not be within your moral values, but it's strong in the end and it just might be able to touch you with the way it tells the way of two adults who have lost their way ...

Joe Swanberg is an actor who has become a seminal figure in the mumblecore movement of the past ten years. With films like "Happy Christmas" and "Drinking Buddies," he has a distinct voice among the indie set. His films often start with a simple outline for the plot, with some tragic thirtysomething characters, and then the dialogue is mostly improvised by the actors themselves. He often operates with a cast that he has worked before, such as Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, and Melanie Lynskey.

The film's plot is actually based on events in Jake Johnson's own life. The film follows a married couple, played by Johnson and Rosemarie DeWitt, who are having a hard time coexisting after the arrival of their son Jude. The wife, Lee, is a yoga teacher and one of her clients is letting the family stay at her vacation home for two weeks. The husband, Tim, digs around the property and finds a bone and an old gun. When Lee leaves to spend time with her family Tim invites a group of friends over, and though Lee has stated that he shouldn't dig anymore, he and his friends do anyway, and find quite a bit of evidence. The rest of the film sees both Tim and Lee try to find themselves in the company of others, as they attempt to piece together what they want from life.

I mean, that's the interpretation that I came up with in watching this film. Swanberg eschews traditional storytelling and rhythm in order to delve into the inner psyche of the subjects covered in his films. To do this he often focuses between two and four characters. In this film there are two central characters, but there's also a large ensemble cast who do nothing but throw off noise. Chris Messina shows up for a good ten seconds of screen time, and Anna Kendrick does her cameo in stride, but they don't add anything to the story besides showing that Tim isn't a hermit. Brie Larson probably has the largest role as a friend of a friend who helps Tim flirt with the idea of infidelity as she becomes his confidant. Sam Rockwell is an explosive if unneeded presence, as a friend who becomes jealous of the Tim and Brie's relationship.

Though there are some stark moments among the pretentious drivel, this is the worst example of the mumblecore movement I've seen yet. It reinforces the criticisms of most, as it's unfocused, monotonous, and slow. Johnson's usual charm is masked by a performance that weaves in between interesting and wayward. DeWitt isn't much better as the controlling and yet unfocused wife. If there had been a little more plot, a little more explanation, this would have been a much more interesting and deep film.

Another chill Swanberg movie, where likable, real characters talk about life's problems, or talk around them (it's not mumblecore anymore I guess). This one is driven by maybe his most straight-forward storyline yet; ostensibly it's about re-kindling a marriage through both a literal and figurative "Digging For Fire."

A great cast, character-driven humor (who knew Orlando Bloom would be a fit in something like this?) and a coked up Sam Rockwell -- would someone please give this man a seriously great role?

I liked it quite a bit, like I like most of Swanberg's stuff, but I'm still waiting for that breakthrough experience from him. The kind of humanity and minor profundity of Linklater or someone like that.