Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

Hesher Blu-ray Movie Review

You could call 'Hesher' a kitchen sink drama, except that the title character has probably already blown up the sink.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 28, 2011

The Truth in Advertising Squad had better have its home video contingent at the ready to handle complaints that will no doubt flood the switchboards once tons of The Office fans start bringing home Hesher, a film co-starring Rainn Wilson and which features the prominent pull quote “Hilarious!” on the front cover. A film about a dysfunctional family in the throes of depression from a recent death who suddenly find themselves host to an interloping stranger with no social skills whatsoever may be many things, but “hilarious” is definitely one adjective which won’t instantly spring to mind for most viewers. Hesher is an odd little indie film that also features Joseph Gordon-Levitt (as the titular anti-hero) and Natalie Portman (of all people) as a destitute grocery store clerk, and it is no doubt going to appeal to those who like odd little characters thrown together into odd little scenes of odd little import, but what, if anything, does Hesher ultimately add up to? That of course will depend on one’s personal tolerance for a character who seemingly has no redeeming values, even when he’s trying in his own odd little way to do the right thing, and who in fact spends large swaths of the film running around destroying other people’s possessions. Added into a general scenario where depressed father Paul Forney (Wilson), his precocious but maladjusted son T.J. (Devin Brochu) and his addle-pated and cancerous mother Madeleine (Piper Laurie—Piper Laurie!) wander around in a malaise-filled haze due to the recent death of Paul’s wife (and T.J.’s mother), this is not exactly the “laff riot” (to cop an oft-used phrase from Variety), and it is most certainly not “Hilarious!” (with or without that requisite exclamation point which always seems to be part and parcel of pull quotes).

Devin Brochu does absolutely amazing work in one of his largest roles yet in his young career (he was also in In the Valley of Elah), but parents watching Hesher are more than likely going to be squirming uncomfortably in the film’s opening sequence, which sees Brochu’s T.J. madly pedaling his bicycle through the streets of Los Angeles, with no helmet and seemingly with no regard to oncoming traffic. T.J. is madly chasing after the wrecked hulk of the car where his mother met her fate, a car which is about to be crushed into scrap metal, and which in its dented and dilapidated state seems to be a fitting symbol of the destruction which has rained down upon the Forney family. Back home T.J. is witness to his Dad’s clinical depression which manifests itself in long bouts of sleeping and waking fitfully to pop a handful of anti-depressants. While Grandma Madeleine is sweet natured and well intentioned, she’s mildly confused at best and as the film wanders through its slightly melodramatic storyline, it turns out she has more on her mind than simply helping her son and grandson to overcome their grief.

Because Hesher is one of those films that feels the need to add insult to injury to make its dramatic point, T.J.’s school life provides no relief from his misery, and indeed ups its considerably, as he is the chief victim of local bully Dustin (Brendan Hill). Close to bursting emotionally one morning, T.J. snaps and throws a rock through the window of a house in a construction project, a house he assumes is abandoned and empty. Unfortunately it’s been providing shelter to Hesher (Gordon-Levitt), a violent, greasy haired loner who both literally and figuratively latches onto T.J. and soon embroils the hapless boy in a series of destructive events concerning Dustin’s beloved muscle car, and who also just shows up at the Forney home one day and simply moves right in, raising nary a Forney eyebrow in the process.

This weird plot point of Hesher just interpolating himself into the lives of the Forneys is perhaps just the most prominent feature of Hesher which strains credulity to its breaking point and which undercuts the film’s delicate juggling act between melodrama and black as midnight comedy. But it’s that very dance between drama and something akin to comedy where Hesheralso repeatedly stumbles. There’s just not that much humor in watching the endless travails of a poor little boy whose mother has been taken from him, whose father is a wasted wreck of depression, whose Grandmother is dying of cancer, and whose new “best friend” is a metal-head with few if any redeeming graces. If Hesher extracts any laughs at all from this twisted premise, it’s the kind of uncomfortable laughter that comes from an audience not really sure how to react to all of this tragedy.

My wife’s brother works in the film industry in Los Angeles and he’s on record as stating that even the biggest stars are somehow genetically engineered toward paranoia that they’ll never work again. How else to explain the participation of Natalie Portman and Piper Laurie, two lauded actresses who certainly should have their pick of material? Of course many times even A-listers want the chance to try something different, and so Portman might have relished the opportunity to de-glam herself as Nicole, a sweet hearted clerk on whom T.J. develops a major crush. But her part is so underwritten and Portman’s obviously formidable talents are so underutilized in this film that it’s hard to understand what would have really drawn her to the project (even more incredibly, Portman is also a co-producer of the film). Perhaps more understandable is Laurie’s participation. Laurie, once the Portman A-lister of her generation, has obviously graduated to character roles, and she at least gets the chance to show some of her hard-earned understated acting chops here and she brings a beautifully nurturing, if sadly befuddled, presence to the film.

Hesher doesn’t know quite what it wants to be, as evidenced by its odd shift late in the game into something like a very special, if foul mouthed, Hallmark special on television. Gordon-Levitt blasts through most of the film with both barrels smoking, and his sudden turn toward something approaching actual human emotion seems at the very least peculiar after previous scenes where he does everything from vandalize a home for sale to actually slam his van into poor little T.J. Director Spencer Susser obviously wants to draw an ironic parallel between a long haired drifter who walks around destroying everything in sight but who nonetheless helps a distraught family rebuild its foundation after a devastating accident. The problem with irony is that it plays toward an audience’s cynicism more often than not, and Hesher doesn’t have the courage of its convictions, opting instead for a quasi-feelgood ending that completely defeats the anarchic spirit that has gone before.

Hesher Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Hesher arrives on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded transfer in 2.44:1. Despite being a relatively low budgeted affair, this feature looks surprisingly crisp on Blu-ray, with an overall well detailed image that makes the most of its small scale settings. Director Spencer Susser and Director of Photography Morgan Pierre Susser do very well with natural (or natural appearing) lighting sources, and though some of the interior scenes don't have exceptional shadow detail, the image is usually appealingly sharp and well defined. There are a couple of very dark nighttime sequences where crush is fairly evident, and a couple of times aliasing crops up on fences and shingles and the like, but compression artifacts are few and far between on this generally excellent looking Blu-ray.

Hesher Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Hesher (the character) is a metal-head, and that makes Hesher (the film) a bombastic sonic experience courtesy of a very aggressive DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix. Aside from its smart use of source cues, the film also has several explosions due to Hesher's proclivity toward blowing things up and/or setting things on fire, and those are all delivered with an impressive amount of LFE. Dialogue is easily heard through the film, and dynamic range is really rather impressive on this film, given that it ventures from Hesher's explosive propensities to some very quiet, almost whispered, interchanges at times. The surround mix is consistent if not exactly overwhelming and is most noticeable in the many outdoor location shots, where a variety of ambient noises like traffic are very artfully placed around the soundfield and recreate an extremely natural ambience.

Hesher Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes (HD; 6:55) actually includes some extended scenes as well. There are some nice moments for the principal cast in these, though several of these are in black and white.
• Outtakes (HD; 28:33) includes a lot of extra material, including a kind of funny opening montage of Brochu screaming his head off in various scenes. This is a pretty typical gag roll, though, with standard missteps and blown lines.
• Behind the Scenes (HD; 7:11) is a decent enough EPK showing several scenes being filmed interspersed with interviews.
• Trailer (HD; 1:42)
• Hesher Sketch Gallery
• Air Traffic (HD; 2:09) documents the trials of trying to film Hesher with planes passing by overhead.
• Teaser Channels (HD; 00:24)

Hesher Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The best thing about Hesher is its performances, all of which are undeniably affecting and well handled. The problem is they're all in a mess of a film that lurches from melodrama to black comedy to saccharine sentiment without any clear direction. Fans of indie films will probably find more to like about Hesher than mainstream audiences, but even indie fans might be hard pressed to actually like this film aside and apart from the actors. However, if you're a fan of the film, this Blu-ray should easily please you with its image and audio quality.