Hesher (2010)

As Good As It Gets

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Like other reviewers, I'm a HUGE JG-L fan. And Natalie Portman, of course. The whole cast does a great job, so my intense dislike of this movie has nothing to do with them.I found this movie to be ugly, ridiculous, and pointless. And if there's anything comedic about it, I've apparently had a brain aneurysm because I'm totally missing that part.The premise of "Hesher" is ludicrous as presented. Sure, it can be done - it has been done. "Down and Out in Beverly Hills', anyone? "What About Bob?" Remember? Taking a farcical approach to the "stranger upends family" trope is fine when it's a comedy. But a big part of the formula is that the stranger has to have at least a FEW redeeming qualities. If the stranger is a sociopathic character like Hesher, then it seems like the film would fit more naturally into a drama/horror genre'. Because I've got to tell you - I didn't crack a smile during this movie. Not ONCE.Every character is pathetic or repulsive. Every action taken is ugly and violent. The setting is ugly and DEPRESSING (then again, I've never liked SoCal.) And the seminal figure - dead mom - is only known by one flashback scene, supposedly the day she was killed in a car accident. She is seen as a warm, supportive mother and wife. But even that heartwarming vision doesn't comport with the rest of the movie. We're supposed to believe in a two-month span that Dad has grown a massively bushy beard, become a pill-popper, and that he and the kid moved into sick, dotty grandma's trashy and cramped house? We're supposed to think that TJ was a relatively normal kid prior to mom's death, then suddenly becomes the victim of a pathologically vicious bully - and no adult knows or cares about it? (I am not counting Hesher because I'm not sure he does count as an adult.) TJ has access to wads of cash via ATM (why???) and chooses to try and buy the wrecked car - even though he knows he can't - instead of offering check-out girl more than $2 when she can't even pay her RENT? Seriously, whaaa? Not everything in a movie has to make sense, but in "Thresher", NOTHING makes sense. The "message" it seems the audience is supposed to take away can be had in 25 other, much better movies.Sorry, JG-L, most of your projects are fantastic. But this one is a swing and a miss!

It's not often I give a movie a one star rating, in fact i've only ever done it for 0.13% of the 2500+ movies i've ever seen, but then "Hesher" was an exception. The label of "hilarious" on the front cover of the DVD could not be more misleading. I found nothing in this movie to be even mildly amusing. Take Hesher's gate-crashing of the funeral at the final scene and his drunken,profanity laced diatribe about losing a testicle. Why somebody didn't get up and throw the guy out on his ear is beyond me. I was half expecting the casket to topple over as it was being led down the street with Piper Laurie's body landing on the road before getting run over by a truck. That might have been funny (in a kinda sick way) and led me to giving it 2 stars not 1. What was Piper Laurie thinking to accept a role in this piece of trash. Hardly the way to end a distinguished career! Simply put; the characters in this movie are irritating, especially Hesher. His tattoos look like they were drawn on him by a retarded 3 year old. They were completely unrealistic and made him look like an idiot. His character was a complete jerk void of even the most basic of social etiquette. The only thing good about him was his taste in music - very little of which was even played in the movie. So if you're after a head-banging comedy this sure ain't it unless you enjoy watching some of the most debased forms of psychopathic behavior ever portrayed in a movie.

TJ (Devin Brochu) is a thirteen year old kid, who a few months after losing his mom in car wreck, is riding his bike through a housing development when he crashes and in his anger throws a rock through a window. This summons the long haired, tattooed, heavy metal listening, Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Who was squatting in the house TJ through the rock into. After this point Hesher will not leave poor little TJ and his family alone. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was great as the title role, not his best acting job which is "The Lookout", but pretty damn close. From the moment Hesher entered the frame I knew I was going to be watching one crazy ass movie. Now the film never tells us one thing about Hesher, but I thought in doing that it created more of a character that stands out on the screen.Devin Brochu is truly a remarkable kid actor. He has the on-screen presence that most kid actors lack. There are scenes where TJ is being bullied, and they happen to be the worst scenes in the film. Its not because of Brochu it's because of the teenage actor who played the bully, all of his dialogue was absolutely awful, and plus the kid was very pale and reminded me of the movie "Powder" but with spiky red hair.Natalie Portman who plays Nicole, a clerk at a local supermarket that saves TJ from the bully. Portman is great at playing the weird, awkward, indie girl and it shines through in this movie. She also helped produced the movie, so if it wasn't for her, "Hesher" might not have been.Rainn Wilson plays Paul, TJ's father. Paul is depressed and has not changed his clothes or left the couch since he lost his wife. Wilson gives the best performance of his acting career. Every scene that Wilson was in he stole it. Im not going to give anything away, but there is a scene when Paul is arguing with TJ and he has a moment of self-realization, and it was heartbreaking. This is Spencer Susser's first feature film, in which he co-wrote and directed and he could not have done any better, well maybe just writing the dialogue for the bully a little bit better. But other than that, "Hesher" is one hell of an entertaining movie. I give "Hesher" an 8.5 out of 10

I give it a well respected 8/10 for outstanding acting and original story. following T.J (played by Devin Brochu) a young boy who lost his mother in a car accident after surviving the accident with a broken arms. His father Paul (played by Rainn Wilson) goes into a depressing after also surviving the car accident. They both go through grief counseling thinking it would help. It feels like a typical sad story but when a man by the name of Hesher (played by Joseph Gordon Levitt) appears who is a man that appears to have no limits in life he starts to cause chaos in T.J life. T.J also appears to have a love interest in a supermarket register by the name of Nicole (played by Natalie Portman) who appears in their life and fills that empty hole that his mom once occupied. Well all together this story is fun and enjoyable i couldn't explain all the plots points but its a well respected story.