I enjoyed "A Cool Dry Place". I found it to be a mellow but entertaining drama about a man's life. It'a very true to life story. Separated Man is out of work, man finds job he isn't happy with, man's ex-wife wants another go just as he finally starts dating a girl he really begins to love, man gets offered a "dream job" but must travel to take it, man's son is stuck in the middle of this. It's well-wtitten, for the most part, but I didn't like the pace. Vince Vaughn is capable of being a funny guy(see Swingers), but they gave his character virtually no sense of humor. I found myself giggle only ocassionally, and never busting out with laughter..while it was a drama, and not meant to be comedic, slow-moving dramas like this could benefits from some laughs. The acting is mostly good, even by child actor Bobby Moat. I'd like to see him take more child roles, as he seems very mature and understands the art of acting well for a child of his age. Vince Vaughn, who's quickly becoming one of my favorites, is well-cast but his talent is underused in this movie. His two love interests, Joey Lauren Adams, and Monica Potter are both nice to looks at, but the only the former seemed comfortable with her role. Joey is a pleasure to watch, while her voice may annoy some, I think it's just part of her charm, a charm that is abundant in this one. On the other hand, Monica Potter seemed nervous and on edge her whole on-screen performance. She doesn't show the true emotion seen in Vaughn, and Adams. Monica has done much better work than this. Like i said, the acting was good, the script was pretty good, the plot was good, but the screenwriter never gave us a climatic moment. This was my problem with the film, which was the same problem I had with "The trigger effect". It's a splendid movie, entertaining usually, but there's never that moment of climax that keeps you glued to the tube. While I found myself liking the movie, and finding it very interesting, I also found myself having a difficult time paying attention about half-way through.
It's definitely worth-watching though..check it out.