Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.0

Why Stop Now? Blu-ray Movie Review

The question is, why start watching?

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater December 10, 2012

There are indie dysfunctional family "dramadies" that earn their quirks—Little Miss Sunshine, say—and others that put on airs of oddness, trying hard to seem original but coming off as derivative and too-cutesy. Why Stop Now drops with an empty thud into the latter category. Co- written and directed by screenplay veteran Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia, The Painted Veil) and newcomer Phil Dorsling, the film is an expansion of their 2008 short, "Predisposed," and like many festival shorts stretched out to feature-length, the expansion spreads the movie's ideas too thin.

The story follows one very long day in the life of Eli Smith (The Social Network's Jesse Eisenberg), a twenty-something piano prodigy who can't follow his dreams because he's stuck at home caring for his junkie hippy mother, Penny (Melissa Leo), and kooky nine-year-old sister, Nicole (Emma Rayne Lyle), who communicates through a sock puppet, using a voice that's half Reagan from The Exorcist and half Danny from The Shining. Eli has an audition at a prestigious conservatory in the afternoon, but first he has to check his mom—willingly—into rehab.

There's only one problem—because Penny doesn't have insurance, the facility will only accept her if she literally shows up high at reception. This necessitates a cross-town trip to Penny's dealer, Sprinkles—played by 30 Rock's Tracy Morgan with a limp, a cane, and the same character he plays in everything—who's short on supply himself and in need of a re-up. What follows is a hectic journey that takes them all from a quinceañera party to a Revolutionary War reenactment to a standoff with Penny's uppity sister, each flat encounter more contrived than the last. The film would like to be funny and touching in equal measure, and I suppose it is—it's neither. Morgan has one or two good moments, and Eisenberg is decent as his typical bumbling chattermouth self, but Why Stop Now—for all its zipping from one location to the next—never really starts.

Why Stop Now? Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shot on 35mm, Why Stop Now retains its natural filmic look on Blu-ray, with a 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that shows no obvious signs of digital noise reduction or edge enhancement. While not the most dazzling high definition picture you'll see this year, the image has a strong sense of overall clarity—with visible skin and clothing textures—and colors that are dense and nicely saturated. There are no glaring compression or encode problems to report.

Why Stop Now? Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The film arrives on Blu-ray with a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track that's functional and unobtrusive. You can expect a modicum of ambience from the rear speakers—party clamor, wet acoustics in the recital hall, light outdoorsy noises, etc.—but the focus here is on the dialogue, which is always clean, balanced, and easily understood. In the background, composer Spencer David Hutchings' score prods the vehicle along with suitable clarity and expressiveness. The disc includes optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles.

Why Stop Now? Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Tracy Morgan Interview (HD, 7:16)
• Featurette (HD, 2:54)
• Trailer (HD, 2:19)

Why Stop Now? Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Boasting an impressive cast—Jesse Eisenberg, Tracy Morgan, and Melissa Leo—Why Stop Now is interesting on paper but utterly forgettable in execution, a me-too dysfunctional family movie that's unable to strike a good balance between comedy and real feeling. Skip it, or—if you must—rent it.