▲ Film InformationRelease date: 2013. 4. 11Running time: 91 minDirector: Jacob Aaron EstesCast: Toby Maguire, Elizabeth Banks

What do you think you deserve in life? What do you think other people deserve in life? Do you ever believe that life pays you back? Or does life pay you back with a kick to the crouch? The little details make up our lives, and this movie gives answers about the questions above.

It is said that there is karma or a god watching over us. Whether it is a conscious belief like religion or unconsciously done like many of us do, we all expect something in life, whether it is rewards or punishments. We all want our lives to make a certain amount of sense, and we know that we can expect some closure or a beautiful turnout in a movie. Well, you are in for quite a surprise if you want that assurance.

Simply Tragic

It is okay for a movie to be tragic. Tragedies spark up events that move the plot along. The most common movie structure, the three-act structure, starts with an inciting incident that is usually tragic. However, if the events in a movie are tragic and nothing else but tragic, the movie becomes a tragic disaster, and this is what happened for The Details.

Jeff Lang, played by Tobey Maguire, is a doctor, has a beautiful wife, and everything is going fine for him. However, all starts when he decides to cover his backyard with real grass. The worms in the grass attract racoons that destroy the garden every day. It may be hard for viewers to comprehend how this innocent action triggers a chain of uncorrelated arbitrary bad luck that ends up with Jeff in relation to a murder, a liver transplant, and two affairs.

Neverthless, all the events occur in a very random manner and it is impossible for the viewers to grasp just why all of this is happening. The characters in the movie are simply inconsistent and unpredictable, their actions are far-fetched, and the motives are inexplicable. What is seen is just a line of tragedies shocking the viewers at any given moment in the movie.

Black Comedy or Just a Really Bad Joke?

One of the key elements of the subtle genre of black comedy is that unethical behavior goes unpunished. This movie shows what happens if a director chooses to keep only that one key factor and ignore all other aspects of a black comedy movie. To first warn any black comedy fans if it was not made clear, this is not a black comedy movie. The director, Jacob Aaron Estes, definitely did intend to make one but he failed drastically.

Jeff does commit unethical deeds and life does not punish him. However, there is no real satire, or twist that sets off the viewers to laugh or even smirk at the irony of the situation. On the other hand, there is no irony but only dully connected coincidences. Estes should have realized that just filling out the requirements of a black comedy movie does not make a black comedy movie, just like simply hitting the notes does not make one a good singer.

For Tobey Maguire who played the only main actor in the movie, this movie was his first major film after the Spider Man trilogy. One may applaud him for a daring attempt at an unfamiliar genre but it seems his effort was a bit farfetched. While he does manage to keep the movie on a cynical note which was essential, the movie was still far from being saved. Elizabeth Banks, who recently emerged as a considerable star in Hollywood, also failed to mix in with the unique atmosphere of a black comedy movie and therefore contributed in bringing it down.

▲ Jeff Lang was living a perfect life before all this happened.Provided by Metacritic.com

Life Lesson?

However, despite all the missing pieces in the movie, the director did succeed in sending a message through his movie. It was “Life goes on.” As any cynical black comedy movie would suggest, life is neither fair nor deserving. We do not get the things we get because we deserve them, we just do. The director just portrayed this in terms where Jeff was getting all the problems not because he deserved them but because he just did. On this note, the director does get his point through to the viewers.

Perhaps to some, this movie may seem creative or new. Yet, approaching the movie from the eyes of a normal person who wants something to enjoy or watch on an average Friday evening, this movie might not be cut out for you. Watching this movie is still your choice but nothing is guaranteed, and you will learn this by the time you have watched this movie: you did not deserve to see what you just saw.