Tag Archives: Wakefield

I Don’t Want to Go Out – Week of August 1

Damn, a lot of stuff is coming out for home enjoyment this week – much of it is not at all enjoyable, though, so there’s that. What should you watch? Let us help you make that call.

Click the title for a full review. And as always, please use this information for good, not evil.

The Lovers

Verdict-4-0-Stars

Colossal

Verdict-3-5-Stars

Wakefield

Verdict-3-0-Stars

Sleight

Verdict-2-5-Stars

The Circle

Verdict-2-5-Stars

Going in Style

Verdict-2-0-Stars

The Ottoman Lieutenant

Verdict-2-0-Stars

Don’t Knock Twice

Verdict-2-0-Stars

 

The Man Upstairs

Wakefield

by George Wolf

“Who hasn’t had the impulse to put their life on hold for a moment…just vanish completely?”

Howard Wakefield (Bryan Cranston) gives in to that impulse, and his moment of resignation becomes months in a self-imposed exile, wallowing in self-pity and watching his family from an attic window.

Sure, Howard has a nice job, beautiful family and sweet home in suburban New York, but he’s been lulled into a stupor by the whole domestic routine. After yet another trying day, Howard ventures up to the attic above his separate garage…and decides to stay there.

Writer/director Robin Swicord adapts E.L. Doctorow’s short story with a workmanlike precision, dutifully providing all the building blocks for this high-concept parable, but never finding the depth or profundity she seeks.

Cranston, here’s a shocker, is fantastic, digging commendably deep in a search for the humanity his character badly needs. Howard has some first-world problems, as he labels suburbia a place people can feel “protected from what’s wild,” but can’t challenge his privilege with anything more dire than dumpster diving or poor hygiene. Howard is far from likable, and though Cranston is all in, finding a reason to root for his quest is tough sledding indeed.

As he spies on his wife (Jennifer Garner) and two daughters, Howard fancies himself the veritable wise old hermit, observing the folly of modern life and dispatching simple truths. It’s well-meaning, but these truths are of the standard greeting card variety, rendered even less impactful from the film’s inherent need to tell (through voiceover narration or talking-to-himself musings) instead of show.

At times, Wakefield has the feel of a one-man show. With Cranston, the man makes it worth watching, even when the show can’t quite keep up.

Verdict-3-0-Stars