Everything Must Go (2011)

Will Ferrell goes mostly serious in the dramatic comedy “Everything Must Go,” which follows an Arizona man as he 1) Loses his job, 2) Loses his wife and home, and 3) Falls off the sobriety wagon all in the same day. Much of the film takes place on the lawn of Nick Halsey, that’s Farrell, because that’s where his wife has dumped all of his belongings after she decides their marriage has hit a dead end. Jobless, carless, hopeless, Nick pounds beers, and waits for … nothing. This being a movie, we can’t have the guy drink himself to death, so he gets two lifelines -- a lonely teenager played by Christopher Jordan Wallace and a friendly (but platonic) new neighbor played by Rebecca Hall. Based on a Raymond Carver short story and directed by newcomer Dan Rush, “Go” is a low-key flick about a guy taking stock of his life. A late-in-the-game reveal is too neat and smacks of an easy out. Ferrell rocks as he did in “Stranger Than Fiction.” Alas, when I said “low-key,” I meant nothing grand happens. B