Peep World (2011)

this is the movie for you. It's your typical dysfunctional family type of film. The one thing I would have liked to be included was what exactly was in Nate's book, Peepworld, that was so horrible. Peepworld is based on his family and a lot of it is true. Only a few details were mentioned. So, the audience can't understand why all the kids hate each other and their father so much. More details should have been added. The most scandalous revelation was Jack's addiction to porn.The movie takes place on the father's 70th birthday. Jack, the most normal one, pays for the birthday party at a fancy restaurant, even though he doesn't like his dad. Joel, the loser brother, just wants money from Jack. Cheri is the kid that hasn't done much with her life. Nate is the author and most successful. So, a lot of the movie is everyone snapping and yelling at each other and having an uncomfortable dinner. It's sort of entertaining and funny at times.FINAL VERDICT: It was OK, nothing really new. I wouldn't recommend paying to see it.

A movie armed with such a strong cast of comedians, you almost expect a movie like this to be open scripted hilarity. Sure there'd be a script, but the comedians are given free reign to riff on the situations to try to make them comedic, and to make them their own. You'd have some semblance of a hurried background story in order to get to the dinner section where all hell breaks loose and biting hilarity ensues.This is not that movie.That movie would have been amazing with this cast.This movie is a strictly scripted dysfunctional family Indie comedy that is more dramatic than comedic. Which could be OK, if the characters were well drawn instead of being broad stereotypes put into clichéd situations. The screw-up, the good kid, the princess, the absent father, the ignored mother, and the successful kid who puts it all to paper. This is every crappy family movie crossed with Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry...minus the snark, bite, or reason. The father's speech at the end telling everybody that they are responsible for their own misery is the only change from this formula.The movie is hollow. And, maybe that's the point. Maybe the writer is bitter about all the other family dysfunction films that send the blame up the chain. And, so he made a film that was as hollow as he felt the other movies to be, with the father being the writer's voice saying "you guys are your own problems." But, if this IS the case, this sort of po-mo response doesn't make it a good movie...or, for that matter, an entertaining one.That's not to say this movie is completely terrible. It does have fleeting flashes of actual humor, mainly involving Leslie Ann Warren as the ignored mother and Taraji P. Henson as the screw-up's doting girlfriend, both of whom are criminally underused. But, as I said, they're fleeting flashes of humor with the rest of the film's humor being empty.Skip it.2/10

Peep World is like (almost) all of the other dysfunctional family movies I have ever come across. It has a very short tun-time (79 minutes) and a decent cast (with some surprisingly good dramatic performances turned in by some comedic actors). It also is NOT overly compelling as not many of the characters are endearing or engrossing.A terribly-cold and downright mean-mean-mean father (Ron Rifkin - LA Confidential, Boiler Room, The Sum of All Fears) is having a celebratory birthday dinner with his four adult children in attendance. None of the kids are overly fond of their financially-successful father just as he appears to be none-too-proud of any of his offspring.Setting the siblings at odds with one another is the success the youngest has found (Ben Schwartz - Everybody's Fine, The Other Guys) after writing a scathing novel that is being made into a movie that exposes and ridicules his entire family (save their father).Michael C. Hall ("Dexter", "Six Feet Under") plays the oldest brother who always "tries to be there for his siblings" even as his marriage is slowly falling apart (his pregnant wife is played by a surprisingly dramatic Judy Greer - 13 Going on 30, Elizabethtown, 27 Dresses); Rainn Wilson ("The Office", Super, Sahara) is the irresponsible and lazy middle brother while the lone girl is a Drama Queen actress played by a manic and most-angry Sarah Silverman (Funny People, Jesus Is Magic, School for Scoundrels). The youngest appears to be the father's favorite simply because of his recent success and each of the kids KNOW this.If the story had remained tight and dedicated to the family dinner, I think Peep World (the name of the exposing novel AND a strip club in the film) would have been more successful. As is (after the film's opening scene of the dinner toast, the film "rewinds" some 16 hours or so) the film easily loses itself and becomes more bitter at times than entertaining (Silverman's anger is understood; but it becomes trying and tiring).For a film of such short-length, the cast is too extensive as it also includes Lesley Ann Warren (Clue, Twin Falls Idaho, Victor/Victoria), Alicia Witt (Mr. Holland's Opus, Vanilla Sky, The Upside of Anger), Taraji P. Henson (... Benjamin Button, Hustle & Flow, The Karate Kid), Kate Mara (Brokeback Mountain, 127 Hours, Iron Man 2) and Stephen Tobolowsky (Groundhog Day, Freaky Friday, Memento) and they are spread too thin to become heavily concerned with/by any of them (although it is always nice seeing Miss Scarlet now and again).As there are TOO MANY dysfunctional family films in existence, one has to really stand-out to be worthy of recommendation ... and Peep World unfortunately does NOT. While there is a fun peek/peep here-and-there -- and Michael C. Hall and Judy Greer make an interesting/believable struggling duo (and woot! to Greer going dramatic again) -- Peep World isn't worth the price of admission OR the cost of the fictional book.It is short-enough for it to not be a waste-of-time for a viewer but not everyone will think it is worth a peep either.

Among the worst films of the year. It's a complete rip off of Arrested Development with much worse writing. It's rarely funny and only in a superficial sitcom sort of way. The characters are predictable and unauthentic. It gets worse as it develops toward the culminating "dinner scene" where the script actually attempts to go serious and sad. It's rather difficult to make your audience feel empathy for characters that are laughably bogus within a superficial storyline. The writer and director should chose different careers. I will never waste my $10 on any film I see them a part of in the future. Unfortunately, the many decent actors, especially Sarah Silverman have tainted their careers in this aberration and abomination of a production. Save your money and time and watch TV or go make love to your husband or wife. Jesus, when am I going to write enough of lines to satisfy the review requirements. In case you hadn't gotten the gist, Peep World is not worth wasting any more words for.