Release Date – TBA 2011
TJ is a young boy who is having a hard time dealing with the death of his mother. His father is unemployed and addicted to pills, which forces them to move in with TJ’s elderly grandmother. Also, TJ has been followed by a weird drifter who forces his way into their house to live with the family. This obviously causes a big change to their lifestyle. Also a friendly cashier helps the young boy when he is being bullied by a fellow student. All this combines to make TJ’s life very odd, when all he wants is a return to normalcy. Although the movie has some incredible actors, the script just didn’t give them any growth. The story just wasn’t compelling enough to keep me interested and I found myself getting a tad bored. I didn’t really know what the filmmaker was trying to accomplish. The actors did well but the story just didn’t do it for me.
Even though the film is named after Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character Hesher, the story is about TJ (Devin Brochu). The young kid is obsessed with buying the car his mother was killed in which is about to be crushed at the junkyard. His anger towards not being able to do so causes a chain reaction that changes TJ’s life. He causes the homeless metalhead Hesher to lose the abandoned model home he was living in, which in turn causes Hesher to follow TJ around town. At first you’re not sure of Hesher’s intentions. Is he violent and harmful to the family? Not really. He actually tries to be a mentor and help out TJ whenever possible. But the way he does so is not conventional. Plus it is never questioned as to why he was allowed to move in. Rainn Wilson plays the pilled up father. It’s a strictly dramatic role for the usually comedic Wilson. He showed no emotion for most of the film because he was constantly sedating himself. This is the main reason why Hesher moves in with no problems. Natalie Portman plays the cashier who is the love interest of the young boy. But of course the age difference makes it just a crush for TJ. Portman’s character has her own problems that add to the general depression of the film.
This is the first feature film from writer/director Stephen Susser. He added a nice blend of drama and comedy into the mix. Most of the film’s comedic moments come from Hesher or the grandmother (Piper Laurie). There are a few choice scenes that will make you laugh out loud but the majority is rooted in drama. I just don’t think it was effective enough showing what the family was going through. One short flashback scene shows happier times but it comes late in the film. Before that you just have to grab at the very obvious hints as to what happened to make things go so terribly wrong. All in all, its not my type of film. Too little comedy and not an interesting enough story. Plus the title is misleading as the Hesher character really has no growth and the main focus is on the young boy TJ and his family.
IMDB – 7.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes – 83%
Movie Wiseguys – 6/10