MOVIE REVIEW: 'The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard'

By SONNY BUNCH - The Washington Times - Friday, August 14, 2009

Time will tell if “The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard” enters the pantheon of great but ridiculous movies that find second life on HBO, the sort of flick that is eminently watchable for 15 minutes because of its quotable lines and great sight gags.

It’s something of a golden decade for this genre: “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy,” “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” “Zoolander” and others have become basic cable staples, midday candy for the shiftless looking to kill a little time. “The Goods” has all the ingredients to make the jump — an eclectic cast of crazy characters; a silly, compact plot; a laugh-a-minute string of jokes — but you can never be quite sure what connects with audiences.

Jeremy Piven stars as Don Ready, a gun for hire used car salesman, the kind of guy a struggling lot brings in to clear some inventory and make a few quick bucks. Don is joined by his loyal team of Jibby Newsome (Ving Rhames), Brent Gage (David Koechner) and Babs Merrick (Kathryn Hahn) in a quest to save the family-run car lot owned by Ben Selleck (James Brolin).

In addition to moving Mercury Sables and Dodge Stratuses, Don is desperate to win the heart of Ivy (Jordana Spiro), Ben’s daughter. Ivy is engaged to the spineless loser Paxton Harding (Ed Helms), a member of a struggling man band (think of a boy band populated by 30-year-olds) whose father is plotting to buy the lot out from under Ben if Don fails to sell all 211 cars off the Selleck lot.

That’s about the whole plot. The humor comes not from the picture’s setup but, rather, the absurd behavior of its characters. Mr. Piven does an able variation on Ari Gold, the caustic agent from “Entourage”; his Don Ready is crude and slick and pushy and funny all at the same time.

The sales staff at Selleck cars features a number of familiar faces playing kooky roles. Ken Jeong (“The Hangover,” “Knocked Up”) plays an inept salesman, as does Tony Hale (Buster from “Arrested Development”); together, they learn the tricks of the trade from Don and his team. One of the funnier turns comes from Rob Riggle, who plays a 10-year-old with a thyroid condition that makes him appear 30 (and turns him into an object of desire for Babs).

★★½