Barry Munday (Patrick Wilson) is a bit of a loser and a faintly unpleasant one at that. Thoroughly obsessed with breasts, constantly on the prowl and endlessly incompetent in social situations. One day he tries to strike up a rapport with a vaguely under age girl while at the cinema, her father appears armed with a trumpet and before you can say, “where are my knackers?” he wakes up in a hospital bed, minus his testicles. To all-too-literally add insult to injury, he is then presented with a paternity suit from a woman (Judy Greer) he has genuinely no recollection of sleeping with. Realising this now represents his one and only shot at fatherhood, he attempts to remould himself as a considerate, hands-on father.
*****
You have to feel more than just a little sympathy for Patrick Wilson. Only a few years into his film career and he has already lost his testes in two separate films. Admittedly the tone of this charming and witty romantic comedy about a man losing his tackle but finding himself could not be more of a contrast from David Slade’s harrowing feature debut, Hard Candy, but still, give the guy a break. Here, Wilson eschews the intelligent menace of his work in Hard Candy and the detached cool of his Lynch in The A-Team and hits beats that perhaps have more in common with his work in Watchmen than anything else. Although his progression from hopeless, mildly pervy klutz to caring family man is a little trite and unconvincing at times, he conveys such child-like guilelessness that his performance carries you along.
Judy Greer puts in some genuinely excellent work here as well, ditching the coolness and craftiness of 13 Going On 30 and Elizabethtown and finding instead something genuinely moving and affecting, a sadness and brittleness behind her harshness towards Wilson, which inevitably but believably softens as the film progresses. She initially looks to have borrowed Cameron Diaz’s look from Being John Malkovich and although she brightens up as the film develops, there is no clichéd, Princess Diaries/She’s All That radical transformation. If anything, her gradual thawing is more convincing and subtle than Wilson’s corresponding developing sensitivity, though both arcs are altogether welcome and lovely.
Tonally, the film manages to cover a lot of ground, without ever feeling like it is losing its way. The script is by turns laugh out loud funny, cringe-inducingly embarrassing and heart-warmingly touching. Rather than try to milk its central premise too much, or run the risk of its reach exceeding its grasp, the film keeps things tight at around 85 minutes, focusing on the central pair while still giving supporting characters their moments. The script is witty, affecting and profane, with the writer and director (Chris D’Arienzo) bagging himself the film’s best line in his suggestion to Munday regarding his pending fatherhood, “One man’s burden is another man’s blessing”. So true.
For a first time director, D’Arienzo has bagged himself a stellar cast. Alongside the afore-menioned Wilson and Greer, we are treated to Malcolm McDowell and Cybill Shepherd as Greer’s parents, Chloë Sevigny as her sister, Missi Pyle and Colin Hanks in supporting roles and Lando Calrissian himself, Billy Dee Williams, as Wilson’s Delorean-driving boss. They each get ther moments without stealing the show or unbalancing the film and we are left with a funny, quirky, moving film that will leave you smiling for ages.
Wilson is to be commended as much as anyone, delivering a selfless performance that is by turns desperate, painful and hilarious and showing in the process that he has talent in abundance for an even wider range of roles than we might have previously suspected. Like so many films these days, it failed to find anywhere near the audience it deserved on its theatrical release. It’s hard to see why on the evidence here, but if there is any justice in the world, this will find great success and popularity on DVD. You can get it here from LoveFilm from 25th April, but seek it out wherever you can, possibly under the alternate title of “Barry Munday”.
[Rating:4/5]
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_hWE8tplsk’]
