Perfect cast and a good story

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

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Steve Dallas (Owen Wilson) is a shallow weather man for an Annapolis, Md. station. He is the best friend of Ben Baker (Zach Galifianakis) a scruffy bipolar paranoid pot smoker, i.e. Zach Galifianakis type cast. He is also a "yellow belt" and is writing a book in a spiral notebook. When Ben's father passes away, Steve returns with him to Lancaster, Pa. where we meet Ben's unlikeable sister Terri (Amy Poehler), and his young "back to nature" step-mom Angela (Laura Ramsey).The story goes off in different directions. There is a sibling estate fight. We have shallow Steve falling for the step-mom who sees through him. Then there is Ben's mental health and desire to create a utopian society starting with his farm.The film had some good scenes as one might expect in a Zach Galifianakis film. Owen Wilson, or at least his character put a dampener on the whole film whose theme was...friendship? The ending really didn't tie things together and Steve was such a plastic character, you never wish for any success for him.Okay as a Red Box rental- Magnolia film substitute.Parental Guide: F-bomb. Nudity (Melanie Ratcliff, Alana De La Garza-TV actress, Laura Ramsey-brief nudity)

I do not understand that all movies by Zach Galifianakis or Owen Wilson (and Amy Poehler) automatically get the stamp "comedy". This is not a comedy, this is a very good movie. About friendship, about the hardships in life, about running away from your feelings and about trying to solve someone else's problems so that you do not have to deal with your own. Pair this with beautiful shots of green countryside and an actual dramatic role of Amy Poehler, great acting and a sturdy script, and you have a good movie. I love that taking drugs or drinking alcohol is not glorified, but shown for what it is to most people: a way to escape life, pain, feelings, the hard reality.Favorite lines: "See, nobody believes in friendship. People talk about it; you see it on TV, people drop by, you go to the doctor together, no one eats alone... But most people are alone. That's the thing about friendship: it's a lot rarer than love, because there's is nothing in it for anybody." Though the whole idea of the movie actually counters this quote, it shows brilliantly how people can deceive themselves.

I think what the disappointment this film has been receiving from the vast majority of it's audience stems from expectation. I like most people was expecting a simple light hearted comedy that would provide a few cheap laughs about weed and farts, however this film took a different course from the classic stoner film and attempted to comment on society.By 'attempted' I feel the ideology of the film wasn't clear, it kept jumping around, almost trying to tackle too many issues. This doesn't mean the film didn't have profound moments, it did, but they were damaged by the confused nature of their origin within the story - for instance there was a moment in the film where an Amish man tells Amy Poehler's character that she can't have babies because she doesn't believe in God, this is just one of a few confusing parts of the film.The casting was a bit odd for the film, although I thought the acting was brilliant I think the audiences that would tend to watch a Zach Galifianakis or Owen Wilson film would get bored with this rather slow paced, almost preachy not amazingly funny comedy.One of the biggest positives of the film was the way it was shot, this was a pleasant surprise with lighting on some of the wides that looked like a Gregory Crewdson photograph.Overall I think this was a nice little film, overlooked by it's target audience and reaching an audience that won't have the patience to appreciate it's story even if it is a little wobbly in places - definitely worth a watch if you ever get the time.

Review: This is another one of those movies which I thought was going to be quite amusing but it ended up being a total disappointment. Wilson plays a womanising bachelor who hasn't got a penny to his name, even though he works as a weatherman on local TV, and Galifianakis plays his disturbed best friend who has to go home to his dads funeral. Wilson decides to go with his best friend to the funeral and when the will gets read out, Galifianakis finds out that he has inherited most of his dads wealth, which amounts to millions, so his sister, played by Poehler, decides to fight him for the money because she thinks that he hasn't got the mental capability to handle the everything. On top of that, there dads ex-wife, whose a attractive young woman, is still living in the house but she isn't fighting for any of the money. Anyway, the storyline was pretty twisted and the individual characters had there own personal issues to deal with. I personally didn't find it that funny and the characters lacked chemistry because they all come from completely different world's and they just didn't seem to connect. The storyline seemed like a right mess because the director tried to cram in to much elements at once so it didn't seem to flow properly. On the plus side, Galifianakis has some funny moments but thats about it. Disappointing!Round-Up: With movies in this genre dominating the box office at the moment, I'm surprised that I didn't hear about this film before it got released on DVD, especially with big names like Wilson, Galifianakis and Poehler in it. To be honest, it's not there best material, but it was made by the director of the Sopranos and Mad Men so I was expecting much better. It also seemed like the director didn't have anywhere to go halfway through the film so he introduces the love element which also turns out to be a right mess. All of the big names in the movie seem to be in weird positions in there careers at the moment and they only really work well in cameo roles so it was a gamble to put them in leading roles, which didn't really pay off.I recommend this movie to people who are into their comedies about a disturbed man who inherits loads of money from his dead father and with the help of his best friend, they battle against his sister to keep the fortune. 3/10