The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009)

terrible... so disappointed.

Awesome Movie

A Major Disappointment

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

It's a nice comedy about the sell car business. It has a lot of sexual jokes that wouldn't be expected in a film about selling cars but in fact a great part of the fun came from them… Some characters are priceless! The ten years old boy in a body of a thirty man is one of them; the guy that have had many women but never made love none of them is another one; the DJ that never plays what is asked for; the old veteran guy; the "Japanese guy" that in fact is Korean; and of course the main one DON READY (played by Jeremy Piven): the guy that would even sell his mother! So, in my point of view, this film is good for the mentioned characters, some laughable jokes and some ironic criticism to the "world of sales", especially the one related to the car business; because plot's development is pretty average and the end is the one expected. Score it 6/10.

Simple fun with a few legitimately hilarious moments, The Goods never quite manages to reach the point of becoming an honest success. A thin plot routinely sets the mood for great payoffs, but then proceeds to miss ever-so-slightly with the punchlines, like it knows how to be funny but is afraid to fully commit. It boasts a tremendous cast of supporting actors, drawn from no less than a dozen genuine classics, but Jeremy Piven fails once again to graduate into a reliable lead and that front-office vacancy leaves the picture feeling hollow. A grab bag of potentially funny ideas and situations that don't always deliver, it's the kind of flick you might expect to catch on Comedy Central at 3AM. Very similar to Wet Hot American Summer in that respect.

The Goods is an over the top movie, filled with an unoriginal formula and blended in with a mixture of complete raunchiness and high powered Comedy. It shows no mercy in various scenes, but keeps the adrenaline pumped and vulgar humor abroad and nonstop. Its nice to know we can see the always amusing Jeremy Piven in something other than an overrated HBO TV series.Don Ready, a great example of a really likable protagonist, is leader of a group of car salesmen; Baps (Kathryn Hahn), the foul mouth lady, Jibby (Ving Rhames) a tough guy in search of making love, and Brett (David Koechner), Don's assistant and back-up brains of the group.They are called to Selleck Motors, a car dealership suffering on 4th of July weekend. Don promises the owner he will sell all 211 cars on the lot. If failed, the lot will be closed. Typical cliché plot involving the hero trying to save a place, seemingly failing at the end with a minor and yet unexpected (but still expected) twist, then working everything out and the credits role and were left with a questionable movie open for a sequel.The "Going out of business" plot has really come a long way. Much like the film Used Cars it will sure to be a forgotten about movie, but a cheer up when watched. David Koechner and Jeremy Piven give great appearances as well as good cameos like Will Ferrell and a funny scene from Ken Jeong. Although ultimately forgettable, I can't say The Goods is memorable. Though it's definitely worth a watch.Starring: Jeremy Piven, Kathryn Hahn, Ving Rhames, David Koechner, Ed Helms, and Ken Jeong. Directed by: Neal Brennan.

You know, a lot of my friends and work peers think I'm too hard on the movies. Too negative. That I don't just sit back, leave my brain at the door and enjoy the movie, because, you must realize, they've never hated a movie or had a bad experience at the cinema, ever. If they ran their own review site, they'd rate every single movie as 5/5 stars and you know what? They would be the studio's best friend and probably appear on more than a dozen movie posters with their stinking thumbs up. Despite all that, perhaps I might agree with them a little; perhaps it's time to lighten up a bit.So, I watched The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard and I have to say: why start disappointing my fans now? This movie sucked. It had such talent at hand, so many (enormously missed) opportunities for humor and the number one (Jeremy "Ari Gold" Piven) person to pull off the ultimate sale, not just for the poor car-customers in the movie, but to the audience that this movie is worth its ticket price. Not only could he sell an ice cube to a South Park character in hell, he couldn't even get into the top 5 for its opening box office weekend.We have somewhat smooth talking Don (Piven) leading a sales team from town-to-town to reenergize failing car dealerships, and since you know he never thinks about settling down, you then know exactly where this movie is headed.He lands in a no-nothing town in California, falls for an already spoken for daughter and works the closeted father into selling all cars on the lot in order to save the family-run business. Yes, that's right; they actually used a 1970s sitcom idea (mostly used in The Brady Bunch) for the entire movie.In this economy, say for the past 4 years, this should've been the ideal escapism. Again, they had tremendous opportunities for laughs, and went for either the obvious, juvenile humor or just let the moment pass with my mouth agape at the wasted scene. In addition, the fully booked cast, most of the regulars from movies like The Hangover mostly stood around and looked like they were improvising everything since they basically had no script to go by.I will admit, there were a few small laughs – mostly with Ferrell's cameo, but with what could've been PIven's huge break-through into starring roles – this role was made for him!! – even he looked bored. Or anxious to leave the lot and go back to HBO.Skip it. I'd almost rather have the used-car dealer lie to me than attempt to make me laugh.