I found this movie on Netflix streaming movies and I took a chance, even though it has a mediocre rating. I'm glad I did, for a "dark comedy" I found it very entertaining. Of course having an A-list cast also makes all the difference, each one is superb.
Tobey Maguire is OBGYN physician Jeff Lang , happily married for 10 years to Elizabeth Banks as Nealy Lang . They have a young son, and are hoping to have another. This generates a need to build a minor addition onto their house, and from that springs most of the excitement in the rest of the story. A big part of that is raccoons invading the back yard at night, pulling up the sod for the worms.
Jeff's good friend from medical school is Kerry Washington as Psychiatrist Rebecca Mazzoni, married to restaurateur Ray Liotta as Peter Mazzoni. They and the Langs are good friends, all living and working in Seattle.
As the construction and back yard sodding project moves forward, Laura Linney as next door neighbor, crazy lady Lila , ends up being a big thorn in Jeff's paw. She plays her role to perfection. As well as Dennis Haysbert as Lincoln , who Jeff only knows via their playing basketball together. Lincoln is a former all-star player in college, but now has failing kidneys and works in a construction job.
To write more at this point would be chancing spoiling the movie, so I will reserve that for after my "SPOILERS" section below. In summary Jeff gets himself into a number of binds and has to decide to be honest with his wife and do the right things. Well, some of them.
SPOILERS: Everything seems to go wrong at once. Nealy rejects Jeff, much later he finds out because she was having her own affair, so when he goes to Rebecca for comfort and advice they end up having sex. That ends up breaking up Rebecca's and Peter's marriage. In the meantime his poison intended for the raccoons kills Lila's cat, she demands sex, later finds out she is pregnant. Meanwhile Jeff does a good thing, he donates a kidney to Lincoln, plus hooks him up for a high school coaching job, and all are grateful. But when Jeff tells Lincoln of his problem with Lila, and his dream of her death by an arrow while walking her dog, Lincoln buys archery equipment and makes that dream a reality. In the end Nealy is pregnant, she confesses her own affair, and they decide that keeping everything to themselves is better than breaking up two families. A dark comedy!
Tobey Maguire is OBGYN physician Jeff Lang , happily married for 10 years to Elizabeth Banks as Nealy Lang . They have a young son, and are hoping to have another. This generates a need to build a minor addition onto their house, and from that springs most of the excitement in the rest of the story. A big part of that is raccoons invading the back yard at night, pulling up the sod for the worms.
Jeff's good friend from medical school is Kerry Washington as Psychiatrist Rebecca Mazzoni, married to restaurateur Ray Liotta as Peter Mazzoni. They and the Langs are good friends, all living and working in Seattle.
As the construction and back yard sodding project moves forward, Laura Linney as next door neighbor, crazy lady Lila , ends up being a big thorn in Jeff's paw. She plays her role to perfection. As well as Dennis Haysbert as Lincoln , who Jeff only knows via their playing basketball together. Lincoln is a former all-star player in college, but now has failing kidneys and works in a construction job.
To write more at this point would be chancing spoiling the movie, so I will reserve that for after my "SPOILERS" section below. In summary Jeff gets himself into a number of binds and has to decide to be honest with his wife and do the right things. Well, some of them.
SPOILERS: Everything seems to go wrong at once. Nealy rejects Jeff, much later he finds out because she was having her own affair, so when he goes to Rebecca for comfort and advice they end up having sex. That ends up breaking up Rebecca's and Peter's marriage. In the meantime his poison intended for the raccoons kills Lila's cat, she demands sex, later finds out she is pregnant. Meanwhile Jeff does a good thing, he donates a kidney to Lincoln, plus hooks him up for a high school coaching job, and all are grateful. But when Jeff tells Lincoln of his problem with Lila, and his dream of her death by an arrow while walking her dog, Lincoln buys archery equipment and makes that dream a reality. In the end Nealy is pregnant, she confesses her own affair, and they decide that keeping everything to themselves is better than breaking up two families. A dark comedy!