A brilliant film that helped define a genre

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

The first must-see film of the year.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I found it more depressing than funny. I was looking for more humor than sadness. It's it turns out to be very very sad. Everything turns for the worst for Jimmy. Everything that happens to Jimmy gets more and more depressing. He gets fired from the grocery job. He doesn't get any laughs at the comedy clubs. He keeps getting fired from his jobs. His wife leaves him. His grandma can't move on her own. His insurance is canceled. He is unable to buy his grandma's pills. It's all so sad. I only laughed twice and that's when his friend was moving boxes on the cart and they fall over twice. It's sad to see what happens to him and how he reacts to everything.

In my opinion Frank did a brilliant job of writing, acting and directing this tragic story of Jimmy, who, but for the grace of the universe, could have been any of us. The very ordinariness of much of the details of the story and of the characters juxtaposed against Jimmy's awesome courage in telling it in all its misery from the stage of the comedy club night after night was a stroke of genius.I think it perfectly set up for a sequel which could either give us one of those happy Hollywood endings, or take Jimmy's life to even further tragic ends. I'm hoping to see that sequel, although I feel it could stop where it did and leave the rest to our imaginations as it has done. The death of his grandmother, and the leaving of his wife and daughter make him free at last to go anywhere and do anything. Sometimes I think he'll find himself and build a good life, with at least weekends with Wendy, and other times I see him digging other deep, dark holes for himself. I think that was Mr. Whaley's objective: to make us wonder about this character, and if so, he has succeeded beyond his dreams.

This is a well-done man vs. himself movie, with a downward spiral that is more moderated and even than most of those sorts of stories. This isn't a party people, drug-addled downward spiral, or a thug life, violence-addled downward spiral -- it's just a normal life, unfortunate circumstances, rut-addled downward spiral. I liked the comedy routine gimmick most of the time, and it provided an off-beat break from the otherwise bleak and mostly mundane storyline -- that being the life of Jimmy, who has become trapped in a sour, unfulfilled plane of his own existence, partly due to circumstance and partly due to a poisoned outlook on life.Those who have said "don't watch this for a pick-me-up" are absolutely correct -- this is a painful movie that is likely to leave you with a grimace, or at least a furrowed brow. It's a sad but not unrealistic testament to the kind of unsatisfying, confounded lives that are lived by plenty of people every day. Lonely, uncomfortable with the results of one's life, yearning for something more but chained down by the shackles of life (imagined or real, or both).Another reviewer here asked what value there is to be had from this movie. The answer is that it serves as a reminder of lives that have neither a happy ending, nor an over-done, trite, or bizarre bad ending. It's the photo negative of "Falling Down", in a way, where the Michael Douglas character doesn't clench his jaw and go on a beeline ass-kicking spree across town -- he just clenches his jaw and keeps trudging along as dark turns to black. (And does an equally-grim stand-up comedy act, which gets better as it goes along, without ever getting funny.)It definitely deserves a better rating than the 4.4 it has now. I gave it a 7. There's nothing wrong with it aside from the fact that it portrays a pretty ordinary, unfortunate life story. It does that well, and the comedy routine thing is a nice quirk.

... Must admit well acted, but "dark" & depressing film portraying a wannabe stand-up "comic" .... with no clue toward humour. Viewed this film at The Stony Brook Film Festival. One of a "book-end" weekend topping off another Frank Whaley vehicle ... "The Pursuit of Happiness". Frank (and his brother Robert, as his Tops boss Mr. Slocum) & his buddy Ethan Hawke stand out in this film as hopeless "common men" ... stuck in a rut of Life's problems and of no seeing any chance of rising above it. Frank (Jimmy O'Brien) sees a calling as a stand up comic, but a mix of stage fright and overwhelming domestic problems, put him in a trance, undermining a "true" escape from his downward spiraling Life. See it for the acting (which is top notch), but as with earlier comments, if U need a feel good and less tragic movie see Frank Whaley in "The Pursuit of Happiness" .