Man Overboard – Movie Review

There’s a pretty good underlying gimmick to Man Overboard, a low-budget semi-comedy about boat salesmen.  Take a small, honest boat dealer who is having trouble doing enough business, and throw in a new guy who sells like hell, but turns out to be a sociopath, and watch the fireworks.  It also has a backstory complex enough to be workable, and grounded enough to relay a fair believability.  What it doesn’t quite have is the necessary finesse built into the script that can pull the two together in a way that makes an interesting and worthwhile whole.

Our story follows C.J. Mason of Mason Marine, and his used boat lot.  C.J. comes from a long line of boat lovers, and he’s managed to turn the unglorious past of his ancestors into, if nothing more, a respectable living.  Unfortunately, C.J.’s misfitish crew of salesmen are a lot more interested in an easy gig than in helping C.J. build his empire.  When C.J.’s father-in-law hazes him about how much money he doesn’t make, C.J. (in a fit of nonsensical “being a guy”ness) puts down an offer on a house wildly out of his price range just to prove he can.

Manning his lot with new motivation which he needs to pass on to his crew, C.J. suddenly finds the real estate agent from his home purchase sauntering into his dealership.  Johnny Cross apparently wants to get into boat sales, and C.J. needs someone who can convert.

Once you know Johnny is a sociopath (and you get it in the trailer), things play out in rather a straightforward manner.  Johnny threatens, blackmails, and bullies the rest of C.J.’s crew into selling more, when he isn’t ripping off customers and/or the business.  Things escalate.  Things come to a head.  In the end, C.J. realizes that he somehow slipped into salesman, when he wanted to be “boat guy” who can do what he loves and spend time with his family.

The movie actually has a lot of things in the positive column, though that may sound surprising at this point.  For a start, Oliver Robins (who I am forced to say is the kid with Scraps the dog in Airplane II: The Sequel) does a fine job of directing.  A lot of people won’t pay attention to that in a really small-budget film (that isn’t trying to scream its direction at you), but give Spielberg $20,000 and “here’s the parking lot you can use,” and see if he impresses you.  Robins may not have much to work with, but he does a good turn at filming conversations, and clearly has the sensibility to work with something richer.

The acting isn’t at all bad either, even if it is a bit stilted at times.  Matthew Kaminsky, who has been on your favorite show whatever that may be, carries things along as well as is probably possible, and Mel Fair (who has probably been on your favorite, but it isn’t quite a sure thing) is supremely solid as evilish Johnny.  The supporting actors might have been reigned in somewhat from their character bios and thus been given more shading, but they are certainly passable.  Graham Norris in particular (who I remember from Gilmore Girls) is quite good, but was close to a truly memorable performance of a throwaway character.

The problem is that the treatment of the somewhat intriguing concept aims so dead at the average that you don’t quite get anything to pull you in.  It’s the kind of script theory that you could throw around $40 million at, get a few decent names, and someone like Chris Columbus would direct.  Then you walk away with a nice profit and a thoroughly average movie.  Think Mrs. Doubtfire.  You’ve got basically the same story as every other movie, but you throw your shtick at it, get some name actors, and go.  Sure, it’s enjoyable enough, but it’s ultimately boring.  Man Overboard‘s problem is that it seems to run the same line, but it isn’t funny enough to be comedy, and isn’t dark or serious enough to be anything else.

The end result is that the film is really shackled to its budget, and that is going to be trying for much of its potential audience.  If this were a mid-scale theatrical release with a few names (and minor script adjustments), you’d rent the hell out of it, and it would probably get play for years to come as it popped up every now and again on HBO and such.  But, when you’re delving into the low-budget realm, you’ve got to have something to say, not just a slightly different spin on the averages of the industry.

I’d like to give this a better rating, because it tries like hell and has some things going for it, but I just can’t.

Rating:  

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