Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Better Late Then Never

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

GREAT cast (in addition to the ones mentioned above), with some funny jokes, a solid concept, and great comedic timing (the latter which I expected, since Chappelle's Show, of which Brennan was the co-creator, was extremely good at that)…so why didn't I stay laughing? Why was I ready for this movie to be over halfway through? I think I figured it out: Piven was not a good fit for his role as the namesake and centerpiece of the film. Don Ready is supposed to be a salesman who is confident to a ridiculous and often-oblivious degree. What makes Piven so convincing and awesome as Ari Gold on Entourage is that he is anything but oblivious; he has a great deal of situational awareness, but often acts like an A-hole out of necessity. Piven is a good actor, but is better suited to roles that give off humor as a by-product; he is not a funnyman in the sense that you just place him center stage, let him babble, and watch amazingly-funny stuff roll out of his mouth, like Will Ferrell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy or Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. In fact, I couldn't help thinking during the movie that Piven and Ferrell should have switched parts.Another thing that killed this movie was that, while many of the jokes were very well-written, the sales speeches themselves, especially Piven's, were average at best. If you're going to present a movie about the best car salesmen in the business, your dialogue during those sales, or the sales methods, better be incredible. I should finish that movie thinking, "Damn, that was a serious speech! I wanted to buy that car!" Instead, I thought the writers got lazy with the speeches; I saw a better car-sale dialogue on Friday Night Lights during Jason Street's brief stint at Buddy's dealership. The Goods's writers should have gone to the best real-life car salesmen in the business and solicited stories about the best real-life sales performances they ever saw. I bet you there are some real interesting stories out there.All in all, this movie came very close to being worth watching on the strength of the great supporting-cast performance, even the ones who didn't get top billing. Craig Robinson stole the show as D.J. Request; and Ken Jeong, Ed Helms, and Ferrell (as well as the others whom I've omitted for brevity) were also hilarious. I wouldn't recommend you spend time watching this movie, but if you are bored, are doing something else while watching, or go in with low expectations, you will probably get some enjoyment out of it.For more reviews and a kickass podcast, check out www.livemancave.com

Simple fun with a few legitimately hilarious moments, The Goods never quite manages to reach the point of becoming an honest success. A thin plot routinely sets the mood for great payoffs, but then proceeds to miss ever-so-slightly with the punchlines, like it knows how to be funny but is afraid to fully commit. It boasts a tremendous cast of supporting actors, drawn from no less than a dozen genuine classics, but Jeremy Piven fails once again to graduate into a reliable lead and that front-office vacancy leaves the picture feeling hollow. A grab bag of potentially funny ideas and situations that don't always deliver, it's the kind of flick you might expect to catch on Comedy Central at 3AM. Very similar to Wet Hot American Summer in that respect.

Slick, smarmy and sweaty-sacked, THE GOODS is the bastard child of USED CARS and GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS.Don "The Goods" Ready (Jeremy Piven) is a freelance super-salesman who is called in with his prevaricating posse to "sell the metal" when it is suntanning on the car lot.Don Ready is such a smooth talker, he can rationalize why he should be allowed to smoke on a plane into a Quest for American Freedoms. Which he does - and gets to bra down stewardess Kristen Schaal in the process. (If only Jeremy Piven had these The Goods back in 1993, they'd never have thrown him off that roof in JUDGMENT DAY.) Don is contracted in desperation by Selleck's (James Brolin) Motors to move 200 cars over July 4 weekend to avoid losing the lot to a competitor (Alan Thicke, with hair still bigger than Daniel Boone's coonskin cap).So begins a vulgar, smack-talking', smooth-sellin', car-ballin' frenzy with big laughs on left-turn jokes motoring by with the speed and sex of a blonde in a red 'Vette. The gags are so slick and numerous that the naff subplots of Ready falling in love and craving offspring were quite unnecessary. Oh well, that's the American mainstream movie system selling itself to you like a car you don't need.Ving Rhames is black dynamite as a womanizer who has never "made lehve"; Ken Jeong is the Korean salesman specifically here for Pearl Harbor; Charles Napier is the crusty old salesman constantly referencing his days of thunder in "the REAL war"; THE DAILY SHOW alumni Rob Riggle and Ed Helms play a ten-year-old in a man's body and a man who acts like a ten-year-old respectively - Rob loves drawing dinosaurs and Ed's greatest love is his boy-band, nay, man-band; Jordano Spiro is the unnecessary love interest for Don Ready, supposedly intelligent and cynical over snatch-grabbers like Don Ready yet dumb enough to fall for Don Ready; Craig Robinson is a DJ who equates taking requests as taking crap from Whitey; and Kathryn Hahn, with her perverse predation on Rob's boy-man, is as vulgar and funny as Madeline Kahn was to an earlier generation.But THE GOODS is owned by Jeremy Piven, like TENACIOUS D IN THE PICK OF DESTINY is owned by Jack Black, like ACE VENTURA is owned by Jim Carrey, like TOMBSTONE is owned by Val Kilmer...So it is strange when reviewers seem surprised at Piven's character. I beg to say "Whuhhh?" In JUDGMENT DAY, Piven is fast-talking' salesman Ray "the Razorman"; in TV's ENTOURAGE he is fast-talking' Hollywood agent Ari Gold; in SMOKIN' ACES he is fast-talking' Vegas snitch Buddy Israel; in GROSSE POINT BLANK, a fast-talking' house salesman; in RUSH HOUR 2, a fast-talking' Versace salesman... When has Jeremy Piven NOT been this character?

From the cast this movie looks like it will be good. Watching the trailers would further enforce this illusion. Unfortunately, this is not the case. As much as I like Ed Helms, Ken Jeong, David Koechner etc. this movie produces more groans than laughs. When the antagonist (Ed Helms) is more appealing than the protagonist (Jeremy Piven), then clearly the writing has to be pointed at as to why this movie fails to achieve it's intended affect (which is meager at that, to make you laugh). Also, the fact that there are no extras on the DVD should clue you in to how everyone involved with this stinker would rather forget this movie than remember it.There are some laughs in the movie, Ed Helms is a bright spot, Will Ferrell's cameo is memorable, and there are some hilarious politically incorrect lines that Charles Napier's character (Dick Lewiston) delivers but the main flaw in this movie stems from the fact that I didn't want to root for Don Ready (Jeremy Piven) and his team of mercenary auto sellers. I found them repulsive and with NO redeemable qualities. That would be fine if this was an edgy drama. But this film aims to be a fun comedy.The handful of good performances by the aforementioned solid cast save this from being a total waste of time but, not so much that you don't realize you've been sold a lemon by a sleazy used car salesman at the end of the movie.