Director: Mike White
By Alex Watson
Ever wondered if your life was worth a damn? Mike White's movie Brad's Status is a picture for anyone going through a crisis. We frequently compare our achievements against those who have greater success. We always want more and curse ourselves for not trying hard enough. White throughout makes us wonder where doing this actually gets us anywhere?
Brad Sloan (Ben Stiller) is a 40-something man who runs a non-profit organization. Even though he has a happy life with life Melanie (Jenna Fischer), he feels like a failure compared to rich buddies Craig Fisher (Michael Sheen), Billy Wearsitter (Jermaine Clement) and Jason Hatfield (Luke Wilson). A trip to Boston for his son Troy's (Austin Abrams) college interviews sparks a voyage of self-realisation.
From the opening of Brad's Status, it becomes clear that the man is at crisis point. His one employee has quit on him because he wanted to make money rather than beg people for it. Very much a man of first world problems, Brad's jealousy as he looks through his friend's social media updates is poorly masked. He questions everything in his life, even wondering if his supportive wife should have pushed him harder? The question of selling out is a big point in White's movie- his friends have all become rich through various ventures while Brad who is trying to help people feels like he is going backwards. When trying to go through a VIP line at the airport he is turned away because he 'only has silver membership'.
Constantly Brad mulls over how things could have been. His jaded view doesn't always make him a pleasant on-screen character. In one moment, he urges a young college student to sell out on her 'for the people' views because it is how people make money. Within seconds he is fighting for control and digging himself a deeper hole. Refreshingly the girl he talks to calls him out on his self-pity and entitlement. White's direction stunts the film's growth in places and he feels the need to map out precisely what Brad feels constantly. Its apparent to the audience due to the frequent voice-over where he bemoans "This is not the life I imagined!" His obliviousness to his superficial friends is at times hilarious because Brad has a life many single men would long for.
Brad's Status is a movie that is well aware of itself and White refuses to let him picture wallow in sadness. We all know there will be a lightbulb moment which helps Brad clue into his worth. His relationship with his son feels slightly underexplored even though his happiness and future are central to Brad. In one scene he panics to his son over his underdog status getting into Harvard and worries about him being a white kid without a sob story. There is also a good intelligence to the story and thankfully it never once urges us to feel any pity for our hero. White might not be the skilled director he wants to be yet, but his writing is always sharp and inviting.
Ben Stiller is on familiar ground in this piece, because of this is able to carve a very natural performance. His Brad is a man wrestling with himself and Stiller is able to make him believable without seeming self-loathing. Michael Sheen is what amounts to a brief cameo is wonderfully arrogant as his frenemy Craig. That one friend who constantly pats himself on the back while oblivious to the needs of other is all too familiar. Sheen does a great job of channelling a man clueless to his own unlikeability. Credit to Austin Abrams too, in an underused role as Brad's son, he has some fine underplayed moments alongside Stiller.
Brad's Status is not the indie darling it so desperately wants to be, but it will help anyone struggling to see the upside of life.
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