I’m not crazy about this title. It really does nothing to describe the movie and misleads you. Well, maybe not misleads, but it certainly doesn’t help the movie. It seems to be of nothing more than sensationalism. Ok, back to the actual movie. Peep World focuses on the day before a family dinner. Now, before you think, “Awwww,” let me tell you that these people really just don’t like each other. They are a family with divorced parents, three brothers and one daughter, the youngest son of whom just wrote a tell-all book describing all the family secrets in detail. They are all meeting to have a dinner to celebrate the 70th birthday of their rich and powerful absentee father. Intrigued? Not so fast, more after the jump.
The cast is a who’s who list of great actors. Unfortunately, with so many wonderful people, they tend to outshine one another from time to time. Let’s take it from the top.
- Michael C. Hall. You may remember him from HBO’s Six Feet Under and if you don’t, shame on you. He is most currently known for Showtime’s Dexter, as a secret serial killer. Although I enjoy his work, I did not like him in this role. I saw nothing new from him and didn’t find him sympathetic at all.
Sarah Silverman. Yawn. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m really tired of her schtick.
Rainn Wilson. Great. Great. Great. This guy has awesome timing and is taking projects that disconnect him from Dwight Schrute, which is exactly what he needs. He’s gonna be alright.
Judy Greer. You may not know her name yet, but I guarantee you’ve seen her in so many movies, you don’t even realize. She’s super funny and quirky normally, but in this, you really see her dramatic side and how she could really pull out a great performance with the right role. I cross my fingers for you Judy!
- Taraji P. Henson. You remember her, she was Benjamin Button’s mom. She’s really good as the girlfriend of Rainn Wilson’s character. She almost steals the scene from him.
Ron Rifkin. Shame on me for not knowing this guys name before the movie. I mean, really? How could I not know this guy’s name? Well, I do now and you should too. He glides so seamlessly from role to role, most do not appreciate. He’s the perfect asshole dad and sells it well.
Lesley Ann Warren. She didn’t do much. However, she did play a doormat, so that was probably the point.
The director, Barry W. Blaustein, has directed one movie before, The Ringer, and has a history of writing comedies with Eddie Murphy. There were many key scenes where light music was playing over heavy dialogue and I found that quite distracting. Is that his fault? Well, he’s the director, so the responsibility falls to him.
Ok, actual story. I just really didn’t get how the youngest brother could have wrote such a harsh book about the family that he evidently keeps such close contact with. It just seemed so wrong. It tried really hard to be an endearing family story, but it fell flat. I didn’t care enough about the characters. There were genuinely funny parts, but nothing fantastic. It was just trying way too hard to be a quirky family comedy.
Rating: Good movie to watch on a Saturday afternoon.
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