Everything Must Go

[Added 9/26/11: Read Why Don't You Dance?, the Raymond Carver short story this film is based on Here, until 11/15/11]

What better way to mark what would have been Raymond Carver's 73rd birthday than to see a movie based on one of his short stories. It would probably be more correct to say that the film Everything Must Go is inspired by the short story Why Don't You Dance. Both involve a man who drinks, and has all his furniture on the front lawn. The short story is only about 5 pages long, so you could not make that into a movie even if you wanted to.

I am always apprehensive about any film based on one of Carver's works, because his stories don't seem very filmable to me. Also I had seen the trailer for this film, and it did strike me a something I wanted to see. But being that today would have been Carver's birthday, I went anyway.

I ended up liking the film more than most of the critics. I do think the film had the tone of a Carver story, even if the story was not really one that he had written. A film like this is totally dependent on the actors, because if they don't give good performances, nothing else can save the film. In this case I thought all of the actors gave great performances, including Will Ferrell as the lead, in a more serious role than he usually takes.

Sometimes you just have to be in the right mood for a film like this, so I guess I was in the right mood tonight. This film has no chance to be a big box office success, but I am glad that I decided to see it.

Add to that I really liked the soundtrack, even though I have not been able to find a track listing for the film.