Matthew Perry plays an over-stressed college professor, Morrie, hoping to gain tenure by kissing the ass of his next-door neighbor. Morrie invites his brother, Jay, to stay with him and his wife after a car hits him. Jay in turn calls their sister, Ida, to come visit. The impromptu family reunion brings forth all the dysfunction that drove the family apart in the first place and puts Morry’s plans for tenure in jeopardy.

I normally despise anything that any of the former cast of Friends has done since the show’s end. I especially avoid anything with Matthew Perry. So I was more than pleasantly surprised with this film. Perry plays straight man to the hilt throughout the film, almost too serious for his own good. His performance is genuine and honest and when he finally lets loose, so to speak, I couldn’t help but cheer. Hillary Swank is also quite funny as the perfect suburban housewife next door. We haven’t seen her in a role like this before and you can tell she had fun playing the part of the prim and proper homemaker.

I’d be very surprised if it doesn’t get picked up. When it plays in theaters, I highly recommend Birds of America.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 at 3:15 am and is filed under Movies, Events, Indy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.