Duane Hopwood (2005)

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Regarding Matt Mulhern's Duane Hopwood, I've read everything from "quietly brilliant" to "drably unfocused" -- and several insightful things in between. Me, I fall firmly with the former group: This is a mellow-yet-effective character study that exhibits some real poignancy and delivers a stunningly good performance by Friends star David Schwimmer. It's certainly not the flashiest or most exciting indie you'll ever see, but for what it is, Duane Hopwood is a winner.Schwimmer plays the titular character, an Atlantic City casino employee who seems to be in the formative stages of outright alcoholism. Duane's estranged wife (the also excellent Janeane Garofalo) is clearly doing all she can to focus on her ex's "good side," as the couple share two daughters -- and, despite his problems, Duane's always been a pretty good dad.But things boil over after Duane is arrested for drunk driving ... while his young daughter lies sleeping in the back seat of the car. Thus begins a herky-jerky, but decidedly downward, spiral for Duane, a guy who's smart enough to realize he's ruining his life -- but just not smart enough to avoid all the potholes.As an honest and realistic depiction of the ways in which alcoholism can strike any "normal Joe," Duane Hopwood works exceedingly well. Those expecting any sort of 'after-school special sentiment' or Public Service finger-wagging will be sorely disappointed in Hopwood's screenplay. There are no big emotional revelations or huge dramatic screaming matches -- but the flick packs a punch all the same. It works because of its everyman banality, and not despite it.For such a quiet and unassuming film, Duane Hopwood sure offers a lot of great little ingredients. The Atlantic City setting, for example, becomes a character unto itself, glitzy and interesting on the surface, but cold and isolated beneath. Judah Friedlander offers a colorfully entertaining supporting performance as Duane's on-again off-again buddy, a security guard who dreams of life as a comedian. And every 25 minutes or so, Mulhern and Schwimmer deliver a moment of true heart, sincerity, and intensity ... frankly, I think this is a better "alcoholism" flick than Leaving Las Vegas.It sure as hell is a lot more subtle, anyway

One of the perils of being known for a particular role is that its hard to shed that image. David Schwimmer, like the rest of the cast of "Friends" is not financially strapped for cash nor will he ever be. But as an actor, he's trying to break the mold of Ross Gellar (his character on "Friends") that he played for a decade. Of all the "Friends", Jennifer Aniston seems to have made the most out of the show – though all of them have had their ups and downs. I'm leading up to something, bear with me here…It was nice to see a major star like David Schwimmer in a very low-budget, independent film. Add to that the character he plays is the polar opposite of "Ross", it was a stretch for him and he did a good job with his role in "Duane Hopwood". The film was written and directed by Matt Mulhern, himself an actor most remembered for his roles in "One Crazy Summer" and "Biloxi Blues". What's most intriguing about the movie is that the director and stars are all mainly known for their comedic performances (Janeane Garofalo plays Hopwood's ex-wife)."Duane Hopwood" isn't an easy movie to watch, any movie that deals with the problem of alcoholism is hit or miss. It's easy for actors to try and do too much in their "state" and try to ham it up for the cameras. Schwimmer takes the low road and lets us know that his character has a drinking problem, but doesn't feel the need to rub it in our faces. Duane Hopwood (David Schwimmer) is a casino pit boss at Caesar's Palace in Atlantic City. He's divorced and isn't too happy with his life. He gets pulled over for drunk driving with his daughter in the car and has his license revoked. His only means to get to work is via bicycle. Throughout the course of the movie, we see him try to rebuild his life – trying to reconcile with his estranged wife (only to finally accept that she's moved on). Like most people with a drinking problem, Duane won't admit that he really has a problem – yet it's evident to everyone else. His friend (and later roommate) Anthony (Judah Friedlander) is his inspiration. Anthony wants to be a stand up comedian and it angers Duane that he's following his dreams.The real message in the movie is about starting over. I don't want to give away the ending, but movies about drunks can only end so many ways and most aren't too satisfying. I have to admit that I was pretty impressed by Janeane Garofalo's performance. She tends to play the same character in most every movie she's in and wit her bleached blonde locks, I hardly recognized her. And speaking of the cast, look for Dick Cavett in the small role of Fred another odd casting choice that seemed to work out. I don't know how personal this was to Matt Mulhern or if he's had problems with alcohol or substance abuse in the past, but as downtrodden as the script was; the performances were great and made the short running time spread out. As I mentioned before, the movie isn't easy to watch but it's quite rewarding.

If Jennifer Aniston can do it, than fellow " Friend " David Schwimmer can do it. What am I talking about here? I am talking about having a fellow cast member of that departed NBC sitcom appear in an indie movie that shows that actor's range. While I'm not going to say that Duane Hopwood is as good as The Good Girl was for Aniston, it does show that Schwimmer can play a part other than Ross.Duane Hopwood (Schwimmer) is a mess of a man. He works the 3 AM to 12 PM shift as a pit boss for Caesars Palace in Atlantic City. He is divorced to Linda (Janeane Garofalo), who is also the mother of his two daughters, Mary (Ramya Pratt) and Kate (Rachel Covey.) He believes that he is down on his luck, but that is mainly because he doesn't realize that he is an alcoholic. One night, Duane was going home with 8-year-old Mary asleep in the back seat of his car, when a traffic cop friend of his, Bobby (Lenny Venito), pulls him over for weaving on the road doing 84 miles per hour in a parkway. Linda, who is not normally vindictive against Duane, takes him to court to take away his visitation rights. She is understandably frightened that he will do something stupid like this again. Through the advice of his lawyer, Steve (Steve Schirripa), Duane realizes that he needs to make some changes in his life, since he loves his daughters and he still loves his ex-wife. She herself has moved on though. She is dating a gym trainer named "Joggin'" Bob Flynn (John Krasinski), a younger guy who gets on Duane's nerves, especially when Bob tells Kate that she is overweight and needs to work out. Duane also decides to take in a roommate. He has Anthony (Judah Friedlander), a security guard at Caesars who aspires to be a stand-up comic someday, move in with him. Anthony wants to move out of his mother's house and live closer to work, and since Duane was convicted of a DWI and had his driver's license revoked (he has to ride a bicycle to get around), Anthony figures that it is a win-win situation. Even though Anthony can be a little annoying, Duane accepts his offer to move in. Duane and Anthony also find themselves invited to Thanksgiving dinner at the house of Duane's neighbors. Fred (Dick Cavett) and Wally (Bill Buell), Duane's possibly gay next-door neighbors, have seen how down Duane has been, and they just want to bring him some holiday spirit. Just when he has decided to clean up his act, Duane gets in more trouble. His nice boss, Carl (Jerry Grayson), has to reprimand him for an incident involving a gambler. Mr. Alonso (Brian Tarantina) is a gambler who was causing trouble in the casino. To calm him down, Duane gave him a few slot tokens, which he used on a slot machine, and won him a jackpot. Unfortunately, Alonso was playing on a machine that had been claimed by an old lady named Mrs. Fillipi (Irma St. Paule), and she in turn complained to Carl about it. Faced with losing his job, Duane becomes really hammered and interrupts Anthony's stand-up debut. Anthony had finally been given the opportunity to do his act when the previous casino comic, Aldo (Vincent Riviezzo), had gotten a waitress pregnant, and Anthony's boss, Rahmn (Jeffrey V. Thompson), needed a fill-in. In the end, Duane will have to accept the changes in his life and deal with it, whether it is going to AA meetings, trying to move on with his life with his new bartender girlfriend Gina (Susan Lynch), or making peace with Linda.Actor Matt Mulhern wrote and directed this movie. It is his second movie, following 1998's Walking to the Waterline . He is apparently trying to create a movie world for himself, a la Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse, because Duane as a character appeared in Walking (Duane was played by " Spin City " actor Alan Ruck.) Mulhern also played a down-on-his-luck alcoholic, but his character was a TV actor. I wish I had seen Walking to compare it to this movie, because I like when an enterprising filmmaker attempts to create a world for himself.Schwimmer did a fantastic job. I wish that this movie had gotten a little more buzz, because it really showed off his acting skills. I know that he has been in several movies so far, but most of them have been sub par. Garofalo also got to show off her talent. I have seen her do both comedy and drama, and this is just another example of her ever-growing acting ability.Duane Hopwood might be just the thing to bring Schwimmer out of the shadow of Ross. Now…what can we do about Matt LeBlanc?

It's worth it. I didn't know what to expect. i wasn't a Friends fan, to put it mildly, but this clearly shows that the dude can act his ass off, with all kinds of support from a group of terrific actors around him. it's not easy as far as what he goes through, but I don't remember seeing a movie that says it's o.k. to be funny while the sh** is raining down, sorta like life you know? in the indie world, it's usually do and gloom and extreme behavior, cause, you know, that's cool, right? wrong. check out a flick that dares - truly dares, to go the other way. just when you think - o.k. here's where he flips out and kills everybody then burns down his house cause that's what happens in indie films - that doesn't happen. full of nice surprises, and if this doesn't get to you, go have a check up, cause you might be a cold blooded reptile.