Totally Whorible

This article was published in the June 30, 2008, edition of The New York Observer.

Totally Whorible
Magnolia Pictures

Finding Amanda
Running Time 100 minutes
Written and
directed by Peter Tolan
Starring Matthew Broderick, Brittany Snow, Maura Tierney, Peter Facinelli

Finding Amanda is an inconsequential little low-budget throwaway with another stagnant, indifferent performance by the underwhelming but overexposed Matthew Broderick as a mediocre Hollywood TV writer named Taylor Peters. Taylor is so unreliable, indifferent and irresponsible that each episode of his sitcom is like a knee replacement. A severe case of writer’s block has reached the level of mental illness. He also suffers from a gambling addiction so serious that it has derailed his career and almost wrecked his marriage to the long-suffering wife (Maura Tierney) he has lied to for years. Now he has licked the drug abuse and drinking, but he can’t give up the racetrack. He also has a new problem: a 20-year-old niece named Amanda who works as a hooker in Las Vegas. His distraught wife dispatches him to Vegas to bring Amanda home to a rehab center in Malibu, and in one night he’s off the wagon, stoned and $20,000 in debt. On the second day, he’s down $60,000, broke, drinking like a catfish, popping ecstasy like M&Ms and fired by the network, his hand broken by pimps. Amanda (Brittany Snow) is a dish who likes her job and her sleazy, abusive sponger of a boyfriend, and has no interest in rehab, but she does have one thing in common with her 43-year-old uncle—they both devote their lives to making bad, self-destructive choices. Which one will turn it around before it’s too late? Hanging around to find out is not worth the agony. It’s a nasty little story that is not enlivened by the flaccid writing and direction of Peter Tolan, or a Matthew Broderick performance that can only be described as tranquil. Where do they find the money to finance this stuff?

rreed@observer.com

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Just a note...both of these movies have uplifting and cheerful endings...unlike the oscar winner of 2007 ..I cant even remember the title it was that bad......there are some great movies around...how about reviewing them.....?

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