While watching Everything’s Going to be Great, I got the distinct feeling I had been transported back in time to the early and mid-2000s. Remember films like Running with Scissors? The Squid and the Whale? Igby Goes Down? Those were films that harkened back to the 1970s cinema of Hal Ashby and Peter Bogdanovich. Everything’s Going to be Great could just as easily have been released right alongside them, a picture that feels of another time, and comes with the same baggage that weighed down many of those pictures as well.
Set in the late 1980s, the film follows the Smart Family, a group of traveling thespians who roam from town to town, gig to gig, eking out a meager existence in regional theatre. Buddy (Bryan Cranston) is the dreamer of the bunch, always optimistic, always taking risks, even at the expense of his family. He just knows his big break is right around the corner. Macy (Allison Janney) is his long-suffering wife, constantly under stress over finances, and reaching the end of her rope with the bohemian lifestyle she once found so attractive. Their youngest son, Les (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) is following in his father’s footsteps, while his older brother, Derrick (Jack Champion), has moved on and now cares more about girls and football.
There’s not much narrative to Everything’s Going to be Great. It jumps around, skips large chunks of time, and really only finds consistency in the second half of the picture, after an event happens that I certainly didn’t see coming. It’s that event that turns this film into two very different pictures, which is part of why the film only sort of works. Both films that have been crammed into this single 90-ish minute comedy/drama would have likely been engaging and entertaining on their own. Together, they clash. Is it a film about pursuing your dreams at any cost? Is it a film about learning to settle? Is it a film about grief? Or love? Sure, it could be all of those things, but it’s difficult to tell when the threads keep getting snipped.
The highest praise I can give this film is this: it understands theatre people. Yes, they might seem overly dramatic, but I have known more than my fair share of folks just like that, particularly in regional theatre. I still know many people who travel all across the country, show after show, earning their living through blood, sweat, tears, and curtain calls. Cranston is the perfect choice for a larger-than-life personality struggling with being contained by his humble circumstances. Janney is powerful as the frustrated wife who makes a decision that forces her character into some complicated places. And, Chris Cooper shines in a terrific supporting turn as Janney’s estranged brother, who is the sort of balance the family needs at a crucial time.
One of the running devices in the film is that Les is consistently visited by the ‘ghosts’ of his dead heroes: Tallulah Bankhead, Ruth Gordon, etc. At first, it felt forced and maybe a little too clever for its own good. But – I gotta admit – it pays off at the end, in a way I surprisingly didn’t expect. The final shot of the film, watching the family in a church service, harkened back to one of my favorite cinematic moments ever, the final sequence in Places in the Heart. And, now that I think on it, Everything’s Going to be Great shares a lot in common with that picture. Alas, what it lacks is cohesion and a narrative that drives the character’s actions.
As a long-time theatre geek, I found a lot to appreciate here. As a long-time movie geek, I found just as much that frustrated me. But, thanks to an impressive cast, some fabulous costume and production design, and a whimsical use of Dire Strait’s “Walk of Life”, Everything’s Going to be Great manages to justify its existence. It’s far from perfect, and clunky as all hell, but I’d be hard pressed to think of anyone who won’t find themselves a touch emotional here and there. It’s got its heart in the right place, but its brain needs to move downstage left.
Rating: ***/***** (currently available on VOD via Apple TV+ and Amazon)
