Brad’s Status: Film Review

I love Ben Stiller and will watch any movie that he is cast in, but Brad’s Status isn’t one I would recommend for a cinema trip because it is pretty average and we’ve seen him in this role before.

Stiller is Brad Sloan, who has a pretty sweet life – he runs his own non-profit organisation, has a great marriage to Melanie (Jenna Fischer) and a bright son named Troy (Austin Abrams) – but is going through some sort of mid-life existential crisis. He compares his life to his old college pals Craig Fisher (Michael Sheen), Jason Hatfield (Luke Wilson) and Billy Wearsiter (Jemaine Clement), who have high-flying careers, and he is unsatisfied with his lot. This all plays out while he goes on a trip with Troy to visit Harvard University for his admissions interview.

Stiller is good at playing the neurotic guy but we have seen him do it quite a few times now – most recently in The Meyerowitz Stories last year. He still gives a good performance but it’s nothing particularly new. Sloan is insanely annoying – he is so self-obsessed, he turns everything back on himself and is envious of everybody when his life is pretty sweet. You just want him to wake up, but you don’t get the payoff as much as you hoped. Abrams has the character you really get behind and he does a great job.

The dialogue is really strong, it has some wonderful, funny moments and excellent support from Fischer and Sheen (Wilson and Clement are barely in it). There were scenes that I absolutely loved but it is ultimately quite forgettable. Nice viewing for a leisurely afternoon but I wouldn’t recommend a cinema trip.

In cinemas now