Everything Must Go

Everything Must Go is the debut movie from writer/director Dan Rush. It is based on a short story “Why Don’t You Dance?” by Raymond Carver. I rented the short story from the library. It was maybe half a dozen pages long and not really worth the read. When I first saw the trailer, I was reminded of Will Ferrell’s last underrated foray into drama, Stranger Than Fiction. With a supporting cast of Michael Peña (Crash, Babel), Rebecca Hall (The Town, The Prestige), Laura Dern (Jurassic Park) and Stephen Root (Dodgeball, Office Space) this film has a lot going for it.

Everything Must Go opens with Nick Halsey (Ferrell) getting let go from his job by Gary (Glenn Howerton) over his drinking problems. In a moment of weakness, or drunken rage, Nick slashes the tire of Gary’s Mustang with his parting gift pocket knife. Nick gets home to his wife having put all of his stuff in the front yard, changing the locks on the house, changing the alarm code, and leaving him. After his neighbors call the police about a man living on his lawn, Nick is forced to go to his AA sponsor, Detective Frank Garcia (Peña) to straighten it out. Frank is able to buy him some time, since the neighborhood has a rule that allows residents to hold a yard sale for not more than five consecutive days.

The next morning, Nick meets Kenny, played by Christopher Jordan Wallace who made his acting debut a few years back in Notorious. Kenny is the real bright spot in this story. His mother is a hospice nurse looking after a neighbor down the street. Nick and Kenny form an agreement. Nick will teach Kenny how to play baseball and pay him minimum wage in return for his help in selling all the stuff in the front yard.

A pregnant Samantha (Hall) moves in across the street from Nick. She is waiting for her husband to move out to join her. She tried to help Nick see the silver lining, but his alcoholism causes problems. While going through his stuff, Nick finds an old camera, which just happens to be Samantha’s hobby, collecting old cameras. Also, he finds an old yearbook. Nick reads some old notes and words of wisdom from his old days. He finds a phone number left by Delilah (Dern).   After a visit to her, a visit to the police station, and re-visit from his old boss, Nick is finally able to face his life.

Everything Must Go feels like a series of short stories about Nick. There is no feeling of cohesion between them. Each story line was just there. The writing tried hard to make you care about all these characters, even Katherine, Nick’s wife, and she never appears on screen. It balances humor with drama well enough, but it seems more like an exercise in character development than a movie. Nothing really stood out in this movie other than Kenny. His character is really the only one who goes through any significant change. Everything Must Go is worthy of a rental, but I do not think this is this year’s must-see dark horse movie. 6.5/10