A.C.O.D.

After watching A.C.O.D. on Netflix I immediately logged onto IMDb to see what sort of ratings the movie had received from critics and other users. I was in fact very surprised that the reviews were not stronger for this movie.

I believe the main problem with this movie is that it must be listed as a comedy. A.C.O.D. is not the traditional comedy with one liners, slapstick, and crazy over the top situations, but is more of a drama dealing with the struggles of an adult living with the trauma of growing up the child of divorced parents. The protagonist Carter's character arc is quite engaging and mostly well written. Even things that he did that I felt were out of character seemed passable when his overall emotional state was considered. The movie was quite deep and could be potentially very meaningful to real life adult children of divorce.

Other positives of this film are in its acting and direction. Most of the actors in this movie were quite good. Adam Scott was typical Adam Scott, nothing new there. The direction was also quite good and I enjoyed the soundtrack.

If you plan to go into this movie expecting laughs though, you won't probably enjoy it as much as I did.

As I started watching this movie, it became very obvious that this was a very personal, cathartic movie. I have no problem with that, it's done all the time--but what's important, interesting, funny, and meaningful to the writer/director, doesn't always translate into something meaningful to the viewer unless there is far more skill in the storytelling. And that is what I think this movie lacked.

The plot simply covers the story of a a kid named Carter (and his younger brother Trey) who's father was a philanderer as a husband, as well as fairly cold and distant as a father. The father and mother haven't spoken for 20 years and the father has gone through several other step moms over those years.

I'm sure the "seminal" moment of Carter's 9th birthday was a huge deal to writer, but it was thrust at us so quickly at the beginning of the movie that we didn't have time for any background/setup to even know or care what was going on. To me, that scene which was apparently so pivotal ended up a throwaway scene because the writer seemed so eager to tell it that he told it too soon without any context whatsoever.

So we fast forward to Carter's now-successful (at least career-wise) life. There are a lot of funny moments here, but nothing we couldn't see in a half-hour sitcom. But the road the movie takes us down is a bit meandering and it seems very clear that we're going to have some sort of too-neatly wrapped up happy ending designed to close every loose end with a perfect situation and end all the pain of all the children who've gone through this situation.

To me, it just smacked too much of someone dumping his messed-up life on us and his wish of what could have been. It didn't make for an entertaining movie. Maybe a half-hour episode of Trophy Wife or something would have been a better venue for this story. Jimo

Adam Scott plays Carter, a restaurant owner who has spent most of his life keeping the peace between his hateful and bitter divorced parents, played by Richard Jenkins and Catherine O'Hara, by keeping them away from one another. When Carter's younger brother, played by Clark Duke, gets engaged, Carter is asked to be the best man and help plan the wedding. This means trying to get their mother and father in the same room without starting a war. The stress of this task leads Carter to re-visit his childhood therapist, played by Jane Lynch, where he finds out she's not a therapist but an author who was doing research for her now best-selling book, Adult Children Of Divorce.

Adam Scott has been around since the mid 90's but it wasn't until 2004 when his career really took off being cast in Martin Scorsese's film, The Aviator. It was in 2008, playing the evil older brother of Will Ferrell in Adam McKay's masterpiece (arguably the funniest film of all-time), Step Brothers, that Adam Scott's full potential as a comedic actor was finally noticed. A.C.O.D. re-unites him with Richard Jenkins, who played his step-father in Step Brothers, and Amy Poehler, who plays his wife on the sitcom, Parks and Recreation, yet here plays his mean-spirited step-mother. This will leave audiences to expect big laughs from A.C.O.D. as it's hard not to relate it to both Step Brothers and Parks and Rec, due to similar casting. Unfortunately, this will lead to disappointment.

The film is co-written by award-winning writer/producer Ben Karlin, who was a head writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and writes for Modern Family. Between Karlin's talent and a large ensemble cast filled with big names, director Stu Zicherman had much to manage, especially being his directorial debut.

The cast is excellent, especially Richard Jenkins and Catherine O'Hara. The real war going on here isn't between their characters in the film but between the drama and comedy that make up the story. The film seems to be trying to deliver a message that is lost, like a lot of potential laughs due to an imbalance. It's hard to tell whether this imbalance came from the script or from the inexperienced director.

A.C.O.D. begins as an exciting laugh-out-loud comedy. As the film moves past the first 20 minutes, it starts taking itself too seriously and becomes more dramatic than humorous, which will let down the majority of it's audience.

So first of all, it stands for Adult Child of Divorce and its the main reason no-one heard of this one. It sounds like a disorder, and people go see comedies that seem like a good time, not a lot of work.

Adam Scott's little bro wants to get married, and its his job to try and get his warring divorced parents to be in the same room together.

Jane Lynch, Mary Elisabeth Winstead, Amy Poehler, Katherine O'Hara and Richard Jenkins are all great. Funny likable cast, terrific situation comedy, its only about 20 minutes too long. Truly the only reason this got buried was that terrible unwieldy title.

6/10 outwore its welcome by the end, but still, underrated.

Think the reviews are unfair - it's a well made film, it's different and the cast are great.

No, it's not perfect. It's the not the best film ever made - but it is a good film, it's not the same story line that's been churned out a million and one times. Its definitely worth a watch, and the cast is great.

I love the multiple genres included in the film, it created a real life feel to it. Adam Scott is a great lead with a great cast around him. This is a great film to just chill out and watch without to much thinking that be enjoyed by all.