Rating  - Surprisely good drama w/ comedy quirks
This movie stays away from predictability, and tells a
sobering (excuse the pun) story about life, divorce
and alcoholism. Simply and realistically shot, the
drama stays fresh by mixing in some quirky humor,
although it realies heavy on cursing. Although the
happy resolution of the film was a bit of an easy out,
the film does touch on some hard issues, inlcuding the fickle nature
of the child custody process. I also giving the movie credit
by staying to a succinct 83 minutes. I can't stand movies that
bludgeon us with time only for egoistic "look at me" self-aggrandizement.
Rating  - extraordinarily poignant
Duane Hopwood is a quiet gem. Writer/director Matt Mulhern gives us a backstory in the opening credits that sets up an aura of sadness.
In a quick, lyrical, silent montage, Duane (David Schwimmer) is shown at home cavorting with two daughters over the breakfast table. Then we see a car parked sideways, half on the sidewalk, half on the street. In the early morning dawn, the driver's side door is open. Next, Duane passes out on the bed while his wife Linda (Janeane Garofalo) shakes her head in frustration and closes the door.
What has happened to this man? How has he fallen so far? Alcohol. Duane works as a pit boss at Caesars Palace in Atlantic City and he doesn't even realize, or fails to admit that he has a problem. He has a couple of cocktails after work. He arrives home and drinks beers and falls asleep in an easy chair. Later he attends an AA meeting but can't own up to his troubles. He says he's there on the advice of his lawyer.
David Schwimmer is marvelous in a heart-breaking role. As he fights to be with his daughters we feel ambivalent toward him. We admire his love for eight-year old Mary and five-year old Kate, but we also don't feel that they would be safe around his drinking. Early in the film, Duane is pulled over for a DWI. The cop, an old school friend, is about to cover-up the moment, but when he discovers Mary in the back of the SUV everything changes.
His ex-wife - a sympathetic character torn between her past love for Duane and her desire to have him confront his drinking problem - seeks to revoke Duane's visitation rights. He is dangerous, after all.
But he is a good father. Mulhern captures this in a wonderfully lyrical moment. Kate, as she and dad ride bicycles on Atlantic City's boardwalk, says she wants to be with him and worries about being fat. Mom's new boyfriend, "Jogging Bob," wants her to get on a diet plan. She's eight years old. Duane reaffirms her self worth, and later confronts Bob about his overzealous approach to nutrition.
Schwimmer has an easy-going intensity. He's polite and laid back, but then he'll have outbursts of violence, clutching a baseball bat or throwing a bicycle into the ocean. Often his hair and face is wet, saturated with alcohol, and his eyes are bleary. He stumbles through the world.
Moreover, as his losses mount so do his verbal jabs at others. To wannabe standup comic Anthony (Judah Friedlander in a schticky, fun role), Duane tells him you're thirty-eight and chasing a dream. You'll never make it. Later after a moment of intimacy with Gina (Susan Lynch) he tells her that he still loves his ex. Gina leaves his apartment. Honesty or cruelty? A fine line that Schwimmer walks throughout Mulhern's subtle story.
Many actors have had career-transforming performances. In the 50s and 60s, Jack Lemmon moved from light-comedy touches in It Should Happen to You (1954) and Mister Roberts (1955) to serious, dramatic parts as alcoholics in both Days of Wine and Roses (1962) and Save the Tiger (1973). Now it's Schwimmer's turn in Duane Hopwood. His performance is nuanced and sincere.
Schwimmer isn't flashy or seamy like Nicolas Cage in the over-sentimentalized Leaving Las Vegas. He's just an everyday guy, very believable, and as he, in the hands of Mulhern's fine script and lyrical direction, takes his baby steps on the journey to recovery, we care about him. Schwimmer's ordinariness becomes for us extraordinarily poignant.
Rating  - A schizo film...
While I watched this film, it was schizophernic. There were some good dramatic moments, balanced with ridiculously cute montages, badly written supporting characters, and inane dialogue. David Schwimmer is pretty good as the title character. I never watched Friends on a regular basis, so I don't think of Ross like other people might when they see him. He's not a total disaster in this dramatic role, but he doesn't give an Oscar worthy performance. The character of Duane's ex-wife (nicely played by Janeane Garofalo, who does the best she can with her underwritten role) is a good example of what's wrong with the film. At the beginning, she is adamant about her anger and her decision to divorce him. At the end of the film, she's forgiving of him, and they part friends, despite the fact that she is moving to South Carolina with their kids and her new boyfriend. That type of logic plays more like a sitcom than it does a film that supposed to be a realistic depiction of alcoholism. The filmmakers never really give us a clear reason as to why Duane started drinking. He's still in love with his (now) ex-wife, he loves his kids, and he likes his job. Duane mentions his parents with affection, so he wasn't abused as a child. But he drinks nevertheless. There is also awkward comic relief (provided by Duane's roomate, an aspiring standup comic) that really illustrates the two faces of this film. Duane's relationship with a sympathetic bartender seems tacked on. There is an excellent scene where Duane has a breakdown in a casino, but it's nearly ruined by the standup comic's constant yammering throughout it. Overall, it's watchable, but it's not sure what kind of film it really wants to be...
Rating - A clean slate
There is a certain freedom when you lose everything you ever cared about in life. It sounds insane, I know. But it simplifies the process of life. It means you can start from scratch... A clean slate if you will.
"Duane Hopwood" (David Schwimmer) first loses his sobriety, then his wife and two daughters, then his job, then his hope and comes dangerously close to losing his will to live. At the custody hearing, he tells the judge that he "needs a reason to stay".
The only thing Duane doesn't lose is the unconditional love of his daughters and the loyalty of a very quirky group of friends.
What is so skilful about this film is the way in which it balances our sympathy for Duane's tragic situation with our understanding that Duane is the cause of his own problems and the only one who can remedy them.
The pivot, around which the film's emotional power revolves, is the quite magnificent transformation of David Schwimmer from the almost unshakable familiarity of his role as Ross on NBC's 'Friends' to this ever so sad and bedraggled ex-husband and father who is desperate to stop the sand slipping through his fingers. This is absolutely a career transforming role that, surprisingly to me, certifies that he has a very promising film career as a dramatic actor in front of him. If enough people see this film, he will be reaping the rewards with great parts for years to come.
Janeane Garofalo also delivers in an atypical role. As Duane's estranged wife, she delicately balances the cold-hearted reality of wanting to move on with her life and the sympathetic understanding of someone who knows him better than anyone else. Her role could so easily have drifted into cynical and clichéd 'mean ex-wife' territory... but this film is too smart to go down that path.
There are some truly fine performances from the supporting cast members. Judah Friedlander & Susan Lynch are both very good as Duane's new support system. Friedlander plays Anthony, an aspiring comedian who becomes Duane's roommate. Lynch is Duane's first girlfriend since getting divorced. Each of them change the pace of the film nicely and add depth and nuance to an already powerful story.
I also want to point out the girls who play Duane's kids. So often I complain that bad performances from kids can ruin the believability of a film... However, Ramya Pratt & Rachel Covey are both splendid here.
This film feels like a cross between "The Family Man" and "Leaving Las Vegas"... an odd combination indeed. But it works on so many levels. I laughed during this film. I shed tears in the final act. I cared about each and every character. It is a tremendously well written screenplay, and it is acted with precision.
This is a small independent feature that really deserves a wide audience. Unfortunately, it will have trouble finding one because it doesn't have a huge publicity campaign behind it or 75 copies lining the shelves of DVD stores. I can only hope that word of mouth and positive reviews like mine will convince a few people to seek this film out. If they do, they will find a diamond in the rough and will be telling all their friends about it too
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