Granted, there’s a point in our lives when most of us realize that potty-mouthed funnies are outdated. But not me. I still love it. I never really truly understood why other people decide to look down on the things which others might find funny or amusing, as if their funny bone were somehow superior in its construction. So, in that way, a person’s sense of humor is very much like their sexuality. It’s not like you really have a choice in the matter. “The Goods” is simple. A failing car dealership. Desperate family needs someone to unload those cars to the wary public. Who ya gonna call? Apparently some guy named Don Ready (Jeremy Piven). Also known as “The Goods”, Ready and his team delivers exactly what it promises. Cheap laughs. And while those laughs may have been purchased with the souls of a few ACLU firebrands, Piven wins me over at the very least with his consistently sleazy charms, the same which may be found in his A-list lawyer persona from HBO’s “Entourage”. Without him, it’s hard to guess whether or not this film would be able to stay ahead of the competition. But from his opening filibuster on in-flight smoking to his junkyard denouement, Piven places himself squarely in the sights of those would-be offendees and dares them to pull the trigger without so much as a sweat. Whether or not he’s really the ass he’s used to playing is almost irrelevant since he’s so good at it. His comfort puts us at ease and the movie only really hits its stride once it convinces you that nothing is sacred or, for that matter, realistic. It inhabits a strange middle kingdom of dildo jokes, cameos and one-liners and wears that crassness so effectively that you occasionally forget that there’s something wholly unsettling about four mercenary car sales reps eating breakfast in a strip club. I’ll be honest, there’s a bit of wasted talent behind a somewhat boring subplot regarding Ed Helms’s man-child character or Craig Robinson’s narcissistic “DJ Request”, but an enthusiastic Ving Rhames and an even more ridiculous Kathryn Hahn more than make up for those short-comings. For you old-schoolers, I’m sure you might have noted the similarities to Robert Zemeckis’s “Used Cars”. It’s practically inescapable. Yet this here is not merely a rehash. Whereas most remakes either go to one of two extremes, to remain desperately faithful or otherwise completely slutty (if we’re gonna stick to the analogy, folks), “The Goods” takes concept and blends it back up into something we’re a little more familiar with. And when you add in the likes of men like Piven, a smooth-talking pied piper who was born to deliver Barnum’s suckers, then what was once just a snowball’s chance in hell at success becomes something that can stand on its own two legs. And so, while I might be in the minority, I definitely think that this simple but effective movie has learned to walk. If not crawl.
Most appreciated when: A.) You have no scruples. B.) You like Ari Gold, Adam McKay or “Animal House” C.) You can take a joke.
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