Featured DVD Review: Dealin' with Idiots

November 10, 2013

Dealin' with Idiots - Buy from Amazon

Jeff Garlin directorial debut was I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With, which earned very good reviews, even if it struggled to find an audience in theaters. He followed that film with Dealin' with Idiots, which sadly didn't live up to the first film either critically or fiscally. Was it unfairly attacked? Or is it much worse than his directorial debut?

The Movie

The film starts out with Max Moris walking to the ballpark with his son, Jack. Jack doesn't want to play baseball, because he thinks he's terrible, but his father gives him some encouragement to go out there and keep practicing. After the game, Max first talks to his dad, or to be more accurate, the ghost of his dad, about raising kids. He then interacts with a number of the people who are involved with his son's little league team, including a couple of the coaches, some of the parents, the commissioner, etc. after which he gets an idea. These people are crazy enough to be the focus of a movie. He then approaches them and asks their permission to follow them around and observe their lives and perhaps write a movie about them.

That's it for the plot. The movie is mostly just Max talking to a series of crazy people and him not really reacting. (He really doesn't have a serious emotional response till the very end.) Given the quality of the cast, I had high hopes for this movie and was hoping the characters they created would carry the movie, despite the weak premise. Some of the actors give great performances, like Fred Willard as a retiree. Gina Gershon and Kerri Kenney-Silver are fun as a pair of lesbian mothers. However, most of the scenes just fall flat. The characters are not well defined enough and the humor comes across as shallow and mean-spirited too often. If you've seen this style of comedy done really well, like in Best in Show, it's hard to watch when it fails and it fails too often here.

The Extras

There are no extras on the DVD.

The Verdict

I really wanted to like Dealin' with Idiots, but while there are bits and pieces that are funny, the overall film doesn't connect. Furthermore, there are no extras on the DVD, so unless you are a really big fan of the cast and / or improvisational humor, you can safely give this one a pass.


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Filed under: Video Review, Dealin' with Idiots, Gina Gershon, Jeff Garlin, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Bob Odenkirk, J.B. Smoove, Fred Willard