Ryan Reynolds plays an actor placed under house arrest after crashing his car because he got freaked out about not having a belly button while on crack. Since he accidentally burned his own house down (before he used the crack), he's under house arrest in the home of a writer who is away for a while. Melissa McCarthy is a p.r. person that works for his agent, who is trying to keep him from ruining things. Hope Davis is a bored neighbor, but she and McCarthy both know something Reynolds doesn't, even as Reynolds becomes obsessed with the number 9.
No, wait, Ryan Reynolds is a writer trying to get the pilot to a TV show he hopes to get picked up by the network. Hope Davis is the middleman for him and the network bigwig that makes the decisions. Melissa McCarthy is the lead actress in the TV pilot, who has known Reynolds for a long time. But Davis tells Reynolds McCarthy didn't test well with audiences, especially the ones that almost think the show is the best thing ever, the 9s, and he should ditch her for a younger lead actress. And all of this is being filmed for some reality TV show.
OK, never mind, sorry. Ryan Reynolds and Melissa McCarthy are a married couple on an excursion into nature with their daughter. When the car battery is dead, Reynolds heads out alone to find cellphone service, and is led astray by Hope Davis, who has ulterior motives for once again trying to keep Reynolds and McCarthy apart.
As you have likely guessed, all the stories are connected. Elements overlap, little things in the first story make more sense in the second. I'm not sure the big reveal really works, or even totally makes sense given how the first story ends. It might; there are ways I can square the circle based on things he says in the third story, but I'm not sure the movie entirely pulls it off. The reveal certainly makes sense with the careers of Reynolds' character in the second and third stories, the first to a lesser extent.
For both Reynolds and McCarthy, it's a more subdued performance than you'd typically expect, albeit this was still when Reynolds was at least trying to show a little range. It's not a comedy, although parts of the first story are funny (McCarthy's delivery of "Oh yeah, crack is classy," cracked me up.) McCarthy, depending on the story, is alternately hopeful, or frightened, or cheerful in a way you can tell it's false but aren't sure what's hiding behind it.
The first story is closest to Reynolds typical role, just kind of a dumbass, but one who's been humbled by circumstances and is growing increasingly unnerved at things going on around him he can't understand. I think the second story is his best work in the movie. He's mostly quiet and you can see the superficial charm the writer has, but the intensity and selfishness breaks through easily in a way where you can tell the writer really doesn't even see anything wrong with how he's acting or what he's doing.
Davis doesn't get as much to do, because her characters are always superficially friendly, where the best thing you could say about them is maybe they don't have malicious intent. Maybe they're just bored. Still, she's very good at projecting that in public settings, then dropping her volume and bringing a more cutting edge to her delivery. Not threatening so much as withering, like the person she's talking to isn't even worth destroying.
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