Hesher review

It’s a common enough story.  While trying to cope with a loss, a family takes in a charismatic stranger (maybe a nanny?) who ingrains themselves into the family and helps everyone cope with the pain and depression they’re experiencing.  We’ve seen this movie before, right?

Okay, let’s take out the charismatic stranger and replace it with a metalhead who smokes everywhere, curses at everyone, and encourages a kid to settle differences with vandalism.  Oh, and this metalhead guy spends a lot of time with his shirt off so we can see the giant middle finger tattoo on his back. 

So yeah, that’s Hesher.  It’s a movie that seems determined to avoid schmaltzy sentimental crap right until it’s required.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has come a long way from Third Rock from the Sun.  His string of daring performances in films like “Brick,” “Mysterious Skin,” and “The Lookout” continues with “Hesher,” but I’m sad to say the script doesn’t live up to his performance.  Hesher is an asshole.  After encountering young T.J. (Devin Brochu) at a construction site, Hesher just randomly shows up in his house (and yes, I used the correct preposition there.  T.J. literally turns around and he’s standing in the den).  Rather than answer questions like “What the hell are you doing in my house,” Hesher strips down to his underwear and starts doing his laundry.  Like you do.  Making this all the stranger, neither T.J.’s father (a surprisingly effective Rainn Wilson) nor his grandmother (Piper Laurie) seem to have a problem with this.  So just like that, Hesher is pretty much living with T.J.

T.J.’s father is a husk of a man, clearly still deeply depressed over the death of his wife in an automobile accident.  He overmedicates and spends a lot of time in his pajamas just sitting around.   T.J.’s grandmother (unclear which side of the family) does what she can to take care of the boys, but it’s abundantly clear that she’s suffered the loss of some of her facilities.  She seems to take a liking towards Hesher, even when Hesher is debating whether or not a granny rapist would cock-fuck or just finger-fuck a victim. 

Yeah, this is just a weird movie, folks.

 

Then you toss Natalie Portman into the mix as Nicole, a grocery store check-out girl who T.J. becomes infatuated with.  Portman is almost always a delight onscreen and she fails to disappoint here.  It’s very easy to see how T.J. could have feelings for her (despite the sizable age gap – T.J. might be better off with Natalie Portman circa “The Professional”).   Aware of the infatuation, Hesher tries to encourage T.J. by getting  him alone with Nicole so that he…well, let’s be blunt here.  Hesher isn’t encouraging T.J. to start a passionate love affair with Nicole.  He’s really more of a “so did you fuck her?” kind of guy.   Remember, they don’t want any of that sentimental schmaltzy crap.

Which is why it’s so damn frustrating when the film turns to sentimental schmaltzy crap.  Without going into too many details, Hesher takes an unexpected (and also unbelievable) sentimental turn.  Sure, it’s sentimentality punctuated by fingering mashed potatoes and saying fuck a lot, but you can’t deny that it’s there.  And it’s where the film gets hopelessly lost.  Hesher turns out to be the dickhead rebel with a heart of gold, and it rings terribly false.   It’s not Gordon-Levitt’s fault, but the story just isn’t sufficient to earn that character turn.  I’ve spent the whole movie thinking he’s a total asshole, so when they try to flip the script and make him a better person I can’t follow.  Maybe it’s my own sense of cynicism fucking things up, but that third act just does not work at all for me.  And that impacts the whole movie since you really spend the first two acts trying to figure out where they’re going.   You arrive at the film’s destination and realize it’s nothing like what was on the map. 

I don’t want to piss all over the script – there are certainly great moments in the film.  When arguing with T.J. about going to a grief counseling group, his father is enraged because he doesn’t want to be the only “loser” there.  That’s a particularly harsh bit, and it certainly rings true.  But a lot of the good character moments are overshadowed by the aforementioned character shifts.   I just can’t buy into any of the character arcs…

I would recommend the film for the stellar work by Gordon-Levitt, Portman, and Wilson, but at the end of the day the incomprehensible tonal shift just killed the whole thing for me.  

Hesher, released by Newmarket Films May 13, 2011. Directed by Spencer Susser.  Written by Susser and David Michod. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Devin Brochu, Natalie Portman, and Rainn Wilson. 106 minutes. Budget $7 million.