Peep World

Peep World is like (almost) all of the other dysfunctional family movies I have ever come across. It has a very short tun-time (79 minutes) and a decent cast (with some surprisingly good dramatic performances turned in by some comedic actors). It also is NOT overly compelling as not many of the characters are endearing or engrossing.

A terribly-cold and downright mean-mean-mean father (Ron Rifkin - LA Confidential, Boiler Room, The Sum of All Fears) is having a celebratory birthday dinner with his four adult children in attendance. None of the kids are overly fond of their financially-successful father just as he appears to be none-too-proud of any of his offspring.

Setting the siblings at odds with one another is the success the youngest has found (Ben Schwartz - Everybody's Fine, The Other Guys) after writing a scathing novel that is being made into a movie that exposes and ridicules his entire family (save their father).

Michael C. Hall ("Dexter", "Six Feet Under") plays the oldest brother who always "tries to be there for his siblings" even as his marriage is slowly falling apart (his pregnant wife is played by a surprisingly dramatic Judy Greer - 13 Going on 30, Elizabethtown, 27 Dresses); Rainn Wilson ("The Office", Super, Sahara) is the irresponsible and lazy middle brother while the lone girl is a Drama Queen actress played by a manic and most-angry Sarah Silverman (Funny People, Jesus Is Magic, School for Scoundrels). The youngest appears to be the father's favorite simply because of his recent success and each of the kids KNOW this.

If the story had remained tight and dedicated to the family dinner, I think Peep World (the name of the exposing novel AND a strip club in the film) would have been more successful. As is (after the film's opening scene of the dinner toast, the film "rewinds" some 16 hours or so) the film easily loses itself and becomes more bitter at times than entertaining (Silverman's anger is understood; but it becomes trying and tiring).

For a film of such short-length, the cast is too extensive as it also includes Lesley Ann Warren (Clue, Twin Falls Idaho, Victor/Victoria), Alicia Witt (Mr. Holland's Opus, Vanilla Sky, The Upside of Anger), Taraji P. Henson (... Benjamin Button, Hustle & Flow, The Karate Kid), Kate Mara (Brokeback Mountain, 127 Hours, Iron Man 2) and Stephen Tobolowsky (Groundhog Day, Freaky Friday, Memento) and they are spread too thin to become heavily concerned with/by any of them (although it is always nice seeing Miss Scarlet now and again).

As there are TOO MANY dysfunctional family films in existence, one has to really stand-out to be worthy of recommendation ... and Peep World unfortunately does NOT. While there is a fun peek/peep here-and-there -- and Michael C. Hall and Judy Greer make an interesting/believable struggling duo (and woot! to Greer going dramatic again) -- Peep World isn't worth the price of admission OR the cost of the fictional book.

It is short-enough for it to not be a waste-of-time for a viewer but not everyone will think it is worth a peep either.

"Pardon me if I don't toast the man who ruined my life." After a book exposing all his families secrets is published and becomes a hit Nathan must deal with the fallout. The fact that his brothers and sister now hate him, his dad he is completely self obsessed is the only one who is proud of him. The movie takes place the day of the annual birthday dinner for their dad's birthday and we watch how each person deals with the stress of that as well as the book release. Judging by the preview I was expecting this to be funnier then it was. I'm not saying this was not a good movie, but I was expecting funnier. I did enjoy it, and the movie was perfectly cast I thought, but I just thought it was missing something to make it better. Watching each person deal with their own personal problems set against the way they feel about the book is enjoyable to watch, but again something was missing. I'm just not sure what. Overall, I really did enjoy this, but it could have used something else, I just can't figure out what it is. I give it a B.

Would I watch again? - I don't think I will.

*Also try - Everybody's Fine

this is the movie for you. It's your typical dysfunctional family type of film. The one thing I would have liked to be included was what exactly was in Nate's book, Peepworld, that was so horrible. Peepworld is based on his family and a lot of it is true. Only a few details were mentioned. So, the audience can't understand why all the kids hate each other and their father so much. More details should have been added. The most scandalous revelation was Jack's addiction to porn.

The movie takes place on the father's 70th birthday. Jack, the most normal one, pays for the birthday party at a fancy restaurant, even though he doesn't like his dad. Joel, the loser brother, just wants money from Jack. Cheri is the kid that hasn't done much with her life. Nate is the author and most successful. So, a lot of the movie is everyone snapping and yelling at each other and having an uncomfortable dinner. It's sort of entertaining and funny at times.

FINAL VERDICT: It was OK, nothing really new. I wouldn't recommend paying to see it.

I was very disappointed in Peep World. I had high expectations for the movie because some of my favorite actors/comedians are in it. It is ironic that the title of the movie is Peep World and that implies you are peeping in the private lives of the characters, but that never happens. The talent was not enough to make the movie worth watching. The movie had a weird feeling to it as if you didn't start watching it from the beginning. It felt more like you started watching it in the middle and missed all the important stuff that sets up the movie. The story was about how one son's book, Peep World, affected his family. But, you never get to know all the horrible revelations that are in the book. There were very few vague references to what is in the book so you have no idea what the characters are actually going through. This movie could have been a lot better if they included the back story of what was in the book. We have no idea who these characters are and what they have been through in their dysfunctional life. So, without that, you can't relate to what they are going though now. The only positive thing I can say about the movie is at least two of the actors did a good job with their characters. Rainn Wilson was good as Joel and when I watched him it was nice not to see Dwight from the Office. Michael C. Hall was very convincing as Jack. I did feel his character's pain, frustration and humiliation. He felt real to me, probably because the frustrations he had about always having to be the "good one," the good son, good brother and the one with all the responsibility. I am in that situation daily with my own dysfunctional family and I hate it too so I really felt a connection to Jack at that point. Everybody else in the movie was just so-so. It's too bad that this movie did not go more into the contents of the book so that we could have had a background of the whole essence of the movie. Without that, the movie fell flat, very flat.

This movie about a dysfunctional family being torn apart by a book published by the youngest member of the clan, Nathan, is a decent way to spend an hour and twenty minutes.

Of course, with its TV-bred cast, (Judy Greer, Michael C. Hall, Rainn Wilson, & Sarah Silverman), narration and short length, this film comes off more like a middle episode of a sitcom. In itself it is not extremely satisfying, though it has some good moments both of humor and drama.

And that's important. The trailer may not make this seem like a movie with any dramatic weight, but it is. There are some funny moments, but the more dramatic ones overshadow those. This is a dramedy that is trying to market itself as comedy. That said, these actors handle the dramatic moments incredibly well, especially coming from such comedic backgrounds.

Don't expect this to be the film adaptation of Arrested Development some people are making this out to be; though it has some funny moments (really genuinely laughable things), it's not the laugh-riot you'd expect an Arrested Development movie to be.

So yeah, in a nutshell, this movie is a well-done (if but slightly average) dramatic movie with good comedic moments.