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When Will Ferrell steps out of the comedic roles and dusts off his dramatic dancing shoes, there is a bit of magic that happens. The cartoon charades stop and, for once, we get an honest performance from him. It’s these dramatic twists and turns out on the dancefloor that makes Dan Rush’s Everything Must Go such an interesting number. While it can be argued that neither Rush or Ferrell find the true soul of the piece, that doesn’t keep the film from being a success.
Adapted from Raymond Carver’s short story “Why Don’t You Dance”, this black comedy recounts how a career salesman and alcoholic, Nick Halsey (Ferrell), loses both his job and his wife all at once and, upon deciding to just give up on life itself, is able to reconnect with what he long-ago abandoned through the example set by Kenny (wonderfully played by CJ Wallace, son of The Notorious B.I.G.), his new neighbor Samantha (Rebecca Hall), and his friend Detective Frank Garcia (Michael Pena). It isn’t all dark all the time. With plenty to laugh at, the sunshiny feelings creeping in toward the end of the movie seem to indicate that the worse is over for Nick; it’s the getting there that hurts the most.
Essentially, this narrative is a look at the bright and blue sky from the very rock bottom of life. Nick has tripped and needs help dusting himself off and returning to the land of the living. It’s a quick little number, too. The story stretches over a brief five days of Halsey’s life so there is a bit of stretch in returning Nick to the fields of sobriety and wellness. Forgivable, yes, but only because Ferrell is so damn good with this sort of material. It’s reminiscent of what he did with Stranger than Fiction and Woody Allen’s Melinda and Melinda film, yet not as meaty. A career curveball if you’ve never seen with of those two films. Still, with something as quiet as Everything Must Go, it’s the small moments between actors that matter. That part belongs to CJ Wallace; the unsung hero of the feature.
Filmed on location in Phoenix, Arizona, the shoot is full of bright mornings and dark nights. The location adds to the gritty realism of Nick’s choices and situation. Full of moments that might make you laugh or cry (maybe even a bit of both), Everything Must Go succeeds in being relevant to the times we live in and poignant in the grief that absolute abandonment can cause a person. It’s a dark film, but never bitter which makes it all the more easily to digest (including the sudden Hollywood ending).
While the soul of Carver’s original story has been jettisoned in favor of schmaltzy friendships, the meaning of possible redemption is still intact. Everything Must Go is low-key dramedy with a happy ending.
MPAA Rating: 
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