99 Homes

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon, Laura Dern
Directed by: Ramin Bahrani
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
2015

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An unemployed man (Andrew Garfield) reluctantly starts working for the real estate broker (Michael Shannon) who kicked him out of his foreclosed home.

Review:

Tim: I'd heard good things about 99 Homes, so I was excited to watch it. The film is certainly good, but it's the kind of film that you watch once and never again. It was honestly sad and a hard to watch. I appreciated the difficult look into how people's lives were demolished in the housing collapse, but this doesn't make for great entertainment.

My struggle with this film is an interesting one. Director Ramin Bahrani gives us a film that makes us feel uncomfortable. We watch people lose their homes. That is never easy, especially when they have children. As a father, it was chilling to watch and consider that people are evicted from their homes, often with no idea of where they will go or what they will do. The people in this situation have few resources to start with. It's awful to consider how a family can be uprooted at a moment's notice. I hated these scenes, even as I appreciated the film's ability to make me feel uncomfortable. And there's the rub. Does 99 Homes deserve credit for making me squirm in my seat? Undeniably- I wouldn't have those emotions if I wasn't invested in the characters and believed what I saw on screen. This film deserves praise for telling an emotional story. The downside is that the story is so emotionally draining that I didn't want to continue watching. You see enough bad news on television, it was exhausting to watch it pop up in my entertainment as well. Now, this is not to say that film's only purpose is to entertain. It should certainly educate, inspire, challenge. This film was challenging, but so much so that I felt little desire to keep going. I did, but it was a real chore. This aspect of the film was a real double-edged sword. The realism was a big plus, but it was painful to watch and thus, made the movie less enjoyable.

The cast was good. I really believe Andrew Garfield is a talented actor. It was nice to see him in a meaty, dramatic role like this. He gives a strong performance, only furthering my belief in his talent. He's very good here. Michael Shannon proves again that he's one of the best antagonists in Hollywood today. His performance here was strong- it would have been easy to make this character one-dimensional. Shannon plays him as a complex character, not quite as morally ambivalent as it seemed at first. He's certainly not a respectable guy, but there are more layers than we might have expected. I liked seeing Laura Dern here, although I wish she had more to do. It was nice seeing her interact with Garfield, but she's relegated to the edges of the film. Still, with Garfield, Shannon, and Dern, this movie boasts a very strong cast.

One complaint I had with the film is that the ending isn't quite as powerful as it believes itself to be. The movie obviously is building toward a big conclusion- there's enough signposts along the way to recognize as the story builds towards its climax. And then, when it gets there, it's a bit of a shoulder shrugging conclusion. It was fine. It's decently memorable and wraps the story up, but it leaves a few too many questions. And, I don't mean that in a purposely, intentionally ambiguous ending. It just ends and leaves a few doors open that should have been closed. It wasn't nearly as strong as an ending as a film like this needed. If you're going to make me feel uncomfortable for two hours, I want to know the payoff at the end was worth it. That doesn't quite happen here.

99 Homes deserves great credit for showing the human side to the housing collapse. We don't get very many movies like this. It educates us on the personal toll of foreclosures while telling an emotional and powerful story. Unfortunately, the movie isn't all that much fun to watch. There are great moments, but uneven ones as well. I was glad when the movie ended and a bit underwhelmed at the conclusion. There's enough here for me to consider 99 Homes a good movie, but I can't claim I enjoyed watching it all that much.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



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