The Details

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.

I like actor Tobey Maguire in many other comedies. He aint bad in this one either, but the "jokes" never really become funny. Why waste my time on that? It does start out quite promising though, because at the beginning it really seems to be an intro to a promising story about an out of control neighbour dispute, but somehow in the end it never really takes off. Missed opportunity. Nagging disappointed feeling.

In King County, Washington, Dr. Jeff Lang (Tobey Maguire) has been married for ten years with Nealy Lang (Elizabeth Banks) and they have a little boy. Their best friends are Rebecca Mazzoni (Kerry Washington), who has studied with Jeff in the medical school, and her husband Peter Mazzoni (Ray Liotta). Jeff decides to sod his backyard, but the grass comes with worms underneath and raccoons destroy his sod during the night. Jeff wants also build another room in the house for his planned second son, but the City Hall blocks the project. Jeff decides to build the room without the approval and he gives a beautiful plant for his next door neighbor, the unstable Lila (Laura Linney) that lives with her cat Matthew, expecting that she does not denounce his construction work to the authorities. Jeff also likes to play basketball with his friend Lincoln (Dennis Haysbert), who has kidney problem and needs hemodialysis.

However, the raccoons disturb Jeff and Nealy has not had sex with him for six months. Jeff decides to poison the raccoon and he meets Rebecca to drink and relief his bitterness about his dried up of sex marriage and they end the day having sex in Rebecca's home. Jeff finds a better work for Lincoln as a coach at a school and he learns that his friend will die soon. Jeff gets close to a breakdown when Peter discovers that his wife betrayed him with Jeff; Matthew is accidentally poisoned by Jeff and Lila seduces him and they have sex. Jeff decides to donate one kidney to save the life of his friend, but when he is recovering from the surgery, he learns that Lila is pregnant and he comments his life with Lincoln. Will Jeff find redemption in his journey to hell?

"The Details" is a love or hate movie, with dark humor, drama and amoral story. Jeff Lang is a family man and doctor that begins his descent to hell when raccoons destroy his expensive sod. The turmoil of his life is funny since the bad things sequentially happen to Jeff. The scene when Lila tells to Jeff that she is pregnant is hilarious. Tobey Maguire is a great actor but his baby face does not fit well to his role. But Laura Linney "steals" the movie with a top-notch performance. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

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.

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