The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009)

i must have seen a different film!!

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

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

It's a nice comedy about the sell car business. It has a lot of sexual jokes that wouldn't be expected in a film about selling cars but in fact a great part of the fun came from them… Some characters are priceless! The ten years old boy in a body of a thirty man is one of them; the guy that have had many women but never made love none of them is another one; the DJ that never plays what is asked for; the old veteran guy; the "Japanese guy" that in fact is Korean; and of course the main one DON READY (played by Jeremy Piven): the guy that would even sell his mother! So, in my point of view, this film is good for the mentioned characters, some laughable jokes and some ironic criticism to the "world of sales", especially the one related to the car business; because plot's development is pretty average and the end is the one expected. Score it 6/10.

The Goods is an over the top movie, filled with an unoriginal formula and blended in with a mixture of complete raunchiness and high powered Comedy. It shows no mercy in various scenes, but keeps the adrenaline pumped and vulgar humor abroad and nonstop. Its nice to know we can see the always amusing Jeremy Piven in something other than an overrated HBO TV series.Don Ready, a great example of a really likable protagonist, is leader of a group of car salesmen; Baps (Kathryn Hahn), the foul mouth lady, Jibby (Ving Rhames) a tough guy in search of making love, and Brett (David Koechner), Don's assistant and back-up brains of the group.They are called to Selleck Motors, a car dealership suffering on 4th of July weekend. Don promises the owner he will sell all 211 cars on the lot. If failed, the lot will be closed. Typical cliché plot involving the hero trying to save a place, seemingly failing at the end with a minor and yet unexpected (but still expected) twist, then working everything out and the credits role and were left with a questionable movie open for a sequel.The "Going out of business" plot has really come a long way. Much like the film Used Cars it will sure to be a forgotten about movie, but a cheer up when watched. David Koechner and Jeremy Piven give great appearances as well as good cameos like Will Ferrell and a funny scene from Ken Jeong. Although ultimately forgettable, I can't say The Goods is memorable. Though it's definitely worth a watch.Starring: Jeremy Piven, Kathryn Hahn, Ving Rhames, David Koechner, Ed Helms, and Ken Jeong. Directed by: Neal Brennan.

I heard a lot of not so great things about the movie, but I loved the cast and it seemed like it could be funny. After the first couple scenes, you start to realize it is a very dumb comedy, but as long as you can get over the fact that it is not very realistic, and is made to just be over-the-top funny, I think you will like it too. There are so many 1 liners that I was constantly rewinding the DVD to catch stuff, most of the movie had me rolling. Expect dumb and a non-realistic story, and then you can truly enjoy it. The stuff you can't take through the airport 1 liners really gave me a good laugh. I was disappointed when the movie was over.