The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard [DVD review]

Nothing screams boredom like the life of a used-car dealer but leave it to Adam McKay and Will Ferrell to produce a raunchy comedy that puts that life in the fast lane. The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard is an over-the-top comedy that lacks in heart but makes up for it lecherous, smut filled jokes.

Jeremy Piven stars as Don “The Goods” Ready, a slick talking B.S-er who lives on the road with nothing to tie him down and someone who could sell a minivan to single guy looking for a hotrod. His team, comprised of Ving Rhames, David Koechner and Kathryn Hahn, travel to used-car dealership as “mercenaries” hired to pull off weekend sales blitzes.

The team is called to Temecula to save Ben Selleck’s (James Brolin) dealership from bankruptcy and the eventual gobbling up by Selleck’s soon to be son-in-law Paxton Harding (Ed Helms). Ready arrives cocky as ever but is constantly haunted by the unknown events that took place in Albuquerque. As the team plans its attack on high prices, Ready starts to fall for Selleck’s daughter Ivy (Jordana Spiro) who is engaged to Harding.

The relationship between Ready and Ivy is by far the worst part of the movie. Nothing in this movie is more disingenuous and unbelievable than their chemistry. Lucky for us, Will Ferrell makes a small appearance as Ready’s long time friend that briefly takes our attention away from the love affair.

This film is definitely akin to other McKay/Ferrell movies like Step Brothers. As for Piven, this movie really takes me back to his early comedy flicks like PCU and his work on The Ellen Show. Fans of Entourage may not be as entertained by Piven performance as when he steps into Ari Gold’s shoes but any fan of Ferrell and McKay’s other films will love this movie.

On the Disc:

The biggest disappointment of this DVD is the lack of features. There are no deleted scenes or outtakes of any type. It would have been golden to see behind the scenes clips of Ferrell, McKay, Koechner and Piven yuking it up. Though The Goods initially appears to be a clunker, upon further inspection you will find a real comedy hotrod.

-Jeff Clark