GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

ThrillMessage There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

disdressed12 David Schwimmer plays the title character,who is married with two kids and works in a casino.then one stupid mistake,and he loses everything.this film is not at all preachy.it's more of an observation about how devastating alcohol abuse can be.Janeane Garofalo plays Linda,Duane's(ex)wife.both Schwimmer and Garofalo are excellent here.Schwimmer sheds his Friends persona with ease.i was not reminded of that show at all.this is a drama,but it also has some lite comedy bits.it's not depressing at all.in fact,i think it's hopeful and even uplifting.it's a small,independent gem that a lot of people did not see,unfortunately.if you get a chance,i highly recommend you watch it.10/10

GrigoryGirl While I watched this film, it was schizophernic. There were some good dramatic moments, balanced with ridiculously cute montages, badly written supporting characters, and inane dialogue. David Schwimmer is pretty good as the title character. I never watched Friends on a regular basis, so I don't think of Ross like other people might when they see him. He's not a total disaster in this dramatic role, but he doesn't give an Oscar worthy performance. The character of Duane's ex-wife (nicely played by Janeane Garofalo, who does the best she can with her underwritten role) is a good example of what's wrong with the film. At the beginning, she is adamant about her anger and her decision to divorce him. At the end of the film, she's forgiving of him, and they part friends, despite the fact that she is moving to South Carolina with their kids and her new boyfriend. That type of logic plays more like a sitcom than it does a film that supposed to be a realistic depiction of alcoholism. The filmmakers never really give us a clear reason as to why Duane started drinking. He's still in love with his (now) ex-wife, he loves his kids, and he likes his job. Duane mentions his parents with affection, so he wasn't abused as a child. But he drinks nevertheless. There is also awkward comic relief (provided by Duane's roommate, played by Judah Friedlander, an aspiring standup comic) that really illustrates the two faces of this film. Duane's relationship with a sympathetic bartender seems tacked on. There is an excellent scene where Duane has a breakdown in a casino, but it's nearly ruined by the standup comic's constant yammering throughout it. Overall, it's watchable, but it's not sure what kind of film it really wants to be...

counterfeit_vocalist Excellent movie. The cast is perfect, great length, plot, point, etc. I can't say enough great things about it. The best you'll ever feel watching a dark movie. Yeah, it's a feel good, dark movie. But not so much a comedy. And David Schwimmer is great. Don't worry about watching a "Ross" movie, cause this definitely isn't it. If you've seen it, you probably know what I'm talking about, if not, you don't know what you're missing. Sorry to sound so extreme on the descriptive words, as I generally try to avoid those reviews as being "extreme." But this is worthy of the praise. I've tried to get friends of mine to watch it, but they usually just dismiss it as another "Ross Geller" movie, which it is not.

grff989 Duane Hopwood is a quiet gem. Writer/director Matt Mulhern gives us a backstory in the opening credits that sets up an aura of sadness. In a quick, lyrical, silent montage, Duane (David Schwimmer) is shown at home cavorting with two daughters over the breakfast table. Then we see a car parked sideways, half on the sidewalk, half on the street. In the early morning dawn, the driver's side door is open. Next, Duane passes out on the bed while his wife Linda (Janeane Garofalo) shakes her head in frustration and closes the door. What has happened to this man? How has he fallen so far? Alcohol. Duane works as a pit boss at Caesars Palace in Atlantic City and he doesn't even realize, or fails to admit that he has a problem. He has a couple of cocktails after work. He arrives home and drinks beers and falls asleep in an easy chair. Later he attends an AA meeting but can't own up to his troubles. He says he's there on the advice of his lawyer. David Schwimmer is marvelous in a heart-breaking role. As he fights to be with his daughters we feel ambivalent toward him. We admire his love for eight-year old Mary and five-year old Kate, but we also don't feel that they would be safe around his drinking. Early in the film, Duane is pulled over for a DWI. The cop, an old school friend, is about to cover-up the moment, but when he discovers Mary in the back of the SUV everything changes. His ex-wife – a sympathetic character torn between her past love for Duane and her desire to have him confront his drinking problem – seeks to revoke Duane's visitation rights. He is dangerous, after all. But he is a good father. Mulhern captures this in a wonderfully lyrical moment. Kate, as she and dad ride bicycles on Atlantic City's boardwalk, says she wants to be with him and worries about being fat. Mom's new boyfriend, "Jogging Bob," wants her to get on a diet plan. She's eight years old. Duane reaffirms her self worth, and later confronts Bob about his overzealous approach to nutrition. Schwimmer has an easy-going intensity. He's polite and laid back, but then he'll have outbursts of violence, clutching a baseball bat or throwing a bicycle into the ocean. Often his hair and face is wet, saturated with alcohol, and his eyes are bleary. He stumbles through the world. Moreover, as his losses mount so do his verbal jabs at others. To wannabe standup comic Anthony (Judah Friedlander in a schticky, fun role), Duane tells him you're thirty-eight and chasing a dream. You'll never make it. Later after a moment of intimacy with Gina (Susan Lynch) he tells her that he still loves his ex. Gina leaves his apartment. Honesty or cruelty? A fine line that Schwimmer walks throughout Mulhern's subtle story. Many actors have had career-transforming performances. In the 50s and 60s, Jack Lemmon moved from light-comedy touches in It Should Happen to You (1954) and Mister Roberts (1955) to serious, dramatic parts as alcoholics in both Days of Wine and Roses (1962) and Save the Tiger (1973). Now it's Schwimmer's turn in Duane Hopwood. His performance is nuanced and sincere. Schwimmer isn't flashy or seamy like Nicolas Cage in the over-sentimentalized Leaving Las Vegas. He's just an everyday guy, very believable, and as he, in the hands of Mulhern's fine script and lyrical direction, takes his baby steps on the journey to recovery, we care about him. Schwimmer's ordinariness becomes for us extraordinarily poignant.