Review by Doug Cooper
Stars Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis, Ben Affleck, Kristen Wiig, Clifton Collins Jr, David Milligan, JK Simmons, David Koechner, Gene Simmons, Beth Grant, Javier Gutierrez
Written by Mike Judge
Certification UK 15 | US R
Runtime 92 minutes
Directed by Mike Judge
This is a likeable comedy from Mike Judge (Office Space) starring Bateman as a caring head of a small business making culinary items and chemicals, unenthused by his listless marriage to attractive Wiig.
Kunis plays a confidence trickster and thief who joins his small town firm as a temp after reading in a newspaper that one of his employees (Collins Jr) has had one of his testicles shot off after a freak accident. She romances the luckless victim in the hope of creaming off some of the vast multi-million dollar settlement he's due. She also flirts with Bateman, who is instantly besotted with her. He feels guilty for this though, and in a drug induced haze helped by hippie bartender Affleck, decides to hire a gigolo (Milligan) to sleep with his wife so he won't feel so bad about conducting a possible affair with Kunis.
So the plot is wacky to be sure and the deft playing from the principals makes one go along with it agreeably. Gene Simmons' appearance towards the end as a smug and over-confident ambulance chasing lawyer is sublime. He's utterly hilarious when discussing legal ramifications with Bateman, telling him to shut his testicles in the door of his office. The story becomes ever more delirious but the comic tone is consistent throughout and the sweet, sunny performances from Bateman, Kunis and Wiig are charming. Affleck too scores as Bateman's best pal, virtually unrecognisable with full beard and long straggly hair, while Milligan is memorably moronic and Koechner suitably annoying as the married couple's neighbour. An amusing effort overall and very enjoyable.