Everything Must Go (2010)

Directed by: Dan Rush | 95 minutes | drama, comedy | Actors: Will Ferrell, Christopher Jordan Wallace, Rebecca Hall, Michael Peña, Rosalie Michaels, Stephen Root, Laura Dern, Glenn Howerton, Argos MacCallum, Todd Bryant, Tyler Johnstone, Jason Spisak, Kyle Sharkey, Scott Takeda, Matthew Dearing

‘Everything has to go!’ How often do you see a slogan if it is not in an advertising brochure? In ‘Everything Must Go’ these words refer to the fact that Nick Halsey (Will Ferrell) is forced to sell almost all his possessions to get his life back on track…

A front yard crammed with household goods, this image finds Nick at his home. This nasty surprise makes his boring day complete. Earlier in the day, he was fired on the spot after sixteen years of loyal service as a sales manager. But that’s not all: to make matters worse, Nick finds that all the locks on his house have been changed and his wife has run off. He decides to spend the night in an armchair standing outside and drown the misfortune with alcohol. But let his excessive drinking is precisely the reason why Nick got into such a mess.

When neighbors start complaining about the scene in their neighborhood, the police come to take a look. Thanks to the intervention of agent and good friend Frank Garcia (Michael Peña), Nick does not have to go to jail. But the former sales manager must meet one condition: the garden must be emptied within three days. Nick decides to run a flea market with the help of teenage Kenny (Christopher Jordan Wallace) and befriends neighbor Samantha (Rebecca Hall) during his cleanup campaign…

Anyone who knows Will Ferrell from absurd roles such as anchorman Ron Burgundy in ‘Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy’ will be surprised to see how he plays the character Nick Halsey. Ferrell omits his well-known overly comedic behavior in ‘Everything Must Go’ and plays Nick’s character well balanced. Although the actor first has to carry the film alone (and succeeds in doing so), the story of ‘Everything Must Go’ only really starts to flow when Kenny makes his appearance.

This is because Ferrell and the young Christopher Jordan Wallace played nicely together. They manage to convey the unlikely friendship between the alcoholic and the many times younger Kenny in a light-hearted, yet believable way. You gradually see the bond between the two characters grow. Nick teaches Kenny the tricks of selling and the teen trumps him. Wallace has a small role compared to Ferrell, but nevertheless he also manages to extract the necessary sympathy from you as the attention-seeking teenager who otherwise cycles aimlessly in the neighborhood.

The conversations that Nick shares with neighbor Samantha further provide the necessary emotional deepening of ‘Everything Must Go’. While eating a takeaway meal together, you get to know both Nick and Samantha’s personal background better. Actress Rebecca Hall has a strong moment when Samantha is deeply hurt by Nick’s harsh judgment.

The cast makes the most of the script, which is based on a short story by Raymond Carver. But the ending could have had a little more to it, given all the events it’s too soft.

‘Everything Must Go’ is not a masterpiece, but just a nice film for a while.