one of my absolute favorites!

Excellent, smart action film.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This is a movie about nothing. That's fine for a half-hour episode of Seinfeld, because it's amusing and entertaining. This movie is neither. It's humorless, tedious and somewhat painful to watch.I like slice-of life movies. I don't need action. I don't need anything to really happen as long as I experience something I normally wouldn't experience in everyday life. This movie is anyone's very ordinary everyday life with some amount of coincidence and absurdity added. Rather than creating interest, though, these devices only prevent anything genuine from emerging.Only one of the two main characters is believable, and both lack color and depth. That's a serious flaw in a movie where almost nothing happens. A transformation of sorts does take place, but it feels contrived. The events leading up to the transformation don't in any way suggest that it should occur, or why.I'm giving the movie 4 out of 10 because someone might get something from it, and because there are a few brief moments that I liked. Also, the acting is at least adequate.The movie is inferior, but not horrible. Observing everyday life on a long walk would be a better way to spend 90 minutes, though.

While Digging for Fire is not the finest Swanberg film, for anyone who knows what they are looking to get out of his movies they will not be disappointed here. Digging for Fire is less about a man's journey to unearth a potential crime from the past buried under a clients home, but more about self exploration during a brief time apart from his marriage to his wife; whom makes up the other scenes in the film.Digging for Fire avoids being sympathetic towards either main character and rather provides a basis for us to just watch instead of judge. All involved are indeed flawed, but very human. The brief moments we share with them don't plan on leading to anything Earth shattering, but rather provide two sides to a coin flipping back and forth. If you don't care much for films lacking in plot development; rather just moving from moment to moment guiding with each scene instead of using traditional story progression, than Digging for Fire will not be for you. Anyone else should be more than pleased by this well acted and nuanced mumbercore hit, and again, while it isn't quite Drinking Buddies, or Happy Christmas, it's still a film more than worth the watch! Also, the soundtrack, while minimal is a pretty good listen as well!

Greetings again from the darkness. If one is evaluating the most misleading movie trailers of the year, this one would definitely be a contender. Rather than the carefree, laugh-a-minute, hanging with buddies, offbeat comedy it's presented to be, it's actually a rather dramatic observation piece on adult responsibilities and the changes we go through with marriage, kids, jobs, and so on. Think of it as an adult-coming-of-age weekend.Writer/director Joe Swanberg has become a festival favorite with such previous films as Drinking Buddies and Happy Christmas. He co-wrote this script with Jake Johnson, who also stars as Tim, husband to Lee (Rosemarie DeWitt). As the film begins, we quickly realize Tim and Lee are terrific parents to their young son Jude (director Swanberg's real life son), but are also a bit emotionally-strained with the whole marriage and adult responsibility thing.A pretty amazing ensemble cast delivers a 90 minute acting seminar based not so much on plot, as two separate spousal adventures. Using a client's beautiful home as their own family retreat, Lee and Tim quickly decide to spend a weekend apart – so that Tim can finish their taxes, and Lee can hit up her parents for Jude's pre-school tuition. Of course, watching Tim work on his taxes wouldn't be much of a movie, so instead, he finds a rusty revolver, and what appears to be a human bone, in the backyard. With Lee and Jude gone, Tim invites his friends over for beer, snacks and help with the gun/bone mystery. This leads to appearances by Sam Rockwell, Chris Messina, Mike Birbiglia, Brie Larson and Anna Kendrick.Lee's trip home permits quick exchanges with both of her parents (Judith Light, Sam Elliott), an ego-boosting interlude with Orlando Bloom, and a visit with old friends played by Ron Livingston and Melanie Lynskey. Ms. Lynskey's appearance seems especially fitting, as the tone of the movie is very much in line with her TV show "Togetherness" with Mark Duplass. The "tone" is related to people who aren't so much unhappy being married as they are curious as to what they are missing. These people haven't adjusted to the fact that life isn't always a party, and it's not really possible to recapture the carefree days with your old friends. Sam Rockwell's character is a stark reminder of this.The book "Passionate Marriage" makes multiple appearances in the movie, and it's clear that the lead characters believe they are losing their self, rather than evolving. It asks the question about what is "happy", and just how crucial it is to be open to the changes life brings.The classic song "Li'l Red Riding Hood" from Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs gets a prime spot during the film and is much more enjoyable than the slightly annoying New Age score that is overused through many scenes. This isn't really a mystery about the gun and bone, and it's not really about old friends or saving a marriage. It's mostly about coming to grips with life and taking joy in the good things … like a cute little boy and a trusted partner with whom to share each day.

I am so psyched to write the first user review of this great film -- soon to be widely recognized as such, I imagine. (See New Yorker, NY Times, Variety etc. reviews -- they're ahead of me.)"Digging for Fire" looks wonderful -- magical, even. Joe Swanberg, as natural a filmmaker as Samuel Fuller (the all-time greatest of the naturals), here has (for the first time?) chosen to shoot on 35mm Eastman color film in Cinemascope ratio. And the results are stunning -- particularly the beautiful night shooting.As the narrative subject matter of the film involves (a) a couple in a conflicted moment and (b) the chance discovery of buried human remains, I was reminded of Rossellini's "Viaggio in Italia" -- and, surprisingly, Richard Brody (in The New Yorker) references Rossellini in his enthusiastic review. The Rossellini film -- though difficult and annoying -- is also mysteriously compelling. While Swanberg's film is far more viewer-congenial (oh alright -- "audience friendly"), a similar spiritual transformation of the characters takes place in both films. But, paradoxically, more satisfyingly in Swanberg's less explicitly and far less portentously "spiritual" film.The acting -- from the wonderful Jake Johnson to Chris Messina in his tiny role to Judith Light and Sam Elliott as Johnson's in-laws and little Jake Swanberg as an adorable 3-year old (type-casting at its best) -- is superb -- an ensemble equal to the great assemblages Robert Altman used to gather year after year. It seems Swanberg may have quite a nice future, for which let us be grateful. (Side note: Interesting "Digging for Fire" is released the same weekend as Peter Bogdanovich's first film in 13 years, "She's Funny That Way" -- each opening in New York on one screen only -- try that one, too -- it's much better than the reviews would have you believe.)