SYNOPSIS:
MEET BILL (Aaron Eckhart) - a doormat if ever there was one. A man reduced to a mere accessory to his family by working a dead end job at his father-in law's bank and arguing about his overindulgent love for chocolate with his wife Jess (Elizabeth Banks) who is loathe to explain her "friendship" with the local news anchorman (Timothy Olyphant). But Bill's fate begins to change when he becomes mentor to a self-assured boy (Logan Lerman) who engineers Bill?s recovery with the help of a cute lingerie sales girl named Lucy (Jessica Alba). Together, the trio confronts Bill's hapless life with humor and energy while forcing him to capture his dream of being financially independent and self-confident. MEET BILL is a film about what it means to let go of your inhibitions and find the path you?re destined for.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Have you ever stopped to think about where your life was headed? Have you ever stopped to wonder how you wanted to define your life? Have you ever stopped to ponder if you’re doing the things that will really make you happy? Meet Bill- a guy in his early thirties who has been feeling increasingly discontent with his life, and decides to do something about it when he finds that his wife is sleeping with a handsome, more good-looking, not paunchy newscaster.
It’s commonly called a mid-life crisis, though the fact that there are also terms like mid-20s crisis suggests that it doesn’t just happen at mid-life. One fine day, anyone can wake up to an epiphany that we have been living life as if nothing mattered, and we have to make at least something matter. So really despite the fact that this film is about Bill (Aaron Eckhart), it’s also a useful examination for each and every one of us- because you never know when you’re going to wake up feeling the same way Bill did.
Written and co-directed by Melissa Wallack, “Meet Bill” is a gentle comedy about how everyman Bill tries to rediscover meaning and purpose to his life. He’s lucky though to have met a precocious teen he’s supposed to mentor, a teen simply known as The Kid (Logan Lerman), at the cusp of adulthood and bursting with verve. The Kid is like that infusion of energy he needs to get his life going, besides offering some helpful tips how to make Bill’s wife (Elizabeth Banks) jealous in order to win her back.
Because it’s made as a comedy, Wallack and co-director Bernie Goldmann inject the film with a lightness of touch that is amusing, but never downright hilarious. Indeed, while one may be tempted to call the result a bland effort, its tone is actually well-suited for the nature of the subject matter. It is not irreverent, but rather respectful that Bill’s predicament could very well be someone else’s in the audience, and therefore not something to be mocked or ridiculed.
To this end, Aaron Eckhart’s down to earth performance is simply a joy to watch. Unlike his more recent “Love Happens”, Eckhart’s portrayal of a man struggling to regain control of his life is sincere and convincing. Of course since the film is about Bill, the two leading ladies, Elizabeth Banks and Jessica Alba, are essentially supporting roles and they are given little to do besides watch Bill take stock of his life.
No matter really since “Meet Bill” speaks about the individual, and how deciding what’s important is also simultaneously about deciding who’s important. This is a film that deals with something universal- that search for meaning in life everyone at some point or other will think about. “Meet Bill” will make you realise that it’s better to start thinking about it earlier than later.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
This Code 3 DVD contains no extra features.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby 2.0 audio is as good as it gets for this talky picture. Picture is crisp and sharp, making the colours in the film look vibrant.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Gabriel Chong
Posted on 11 December 2009
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