TRAIN WRECK: MY LIFE AS AN IDOIT: DVD

SYNOPSIS:
Self-induced attention-deficit disordered, learning disabled, Tourette's syndrome suffering, balance impaired, ex-alcoholic Jeff (Seann William Scott) from the Upper East Side of Manhattan meets Lynn (Gretchen Mol), the gold-digging girl who inspires him to try and get his life together.

Review by Andrew L. Urban:
That's not how you spell 'idiot' - but that's how Jeff spells it. He's dyslexic. And - even though he's an occasional fill-in teacher - that's the least of his problems. He's also a recovering alcoholic with learning difficulties and several other issues. A misfit. And dangerous. Seann William Scott delivers an engaging characterisation - in fact I like him better in this role than in any other I've seen him play. The intensity he brings to the character and the insecurity he conveys provide a credible approximation of how the author, Jeff Nichols, must have seemed. Based on Nichols' memoirs, the film turns the story into a cinematic adventure as Jeff crashes hi way through a life on the edge of normal society.

Joining Scott is the talented Gretchan Mol (so terrific in The Notorious Bettie Page) as Lynn, whose own situation is nearly as strange as his. Mol manages to combine the sophistication of a well groomed kept woman with the shaky vulnerabilities of a little girl lost.

Terrific support from Jeff Garlin as Jeff's friend Lenny, the one constant in his life, other than Mammy, nicely understated by Deridre O'Connell.

Tod Harrison Williams directs with a sense of humour that never takes cheap shots but isn't overtly reverential to the author, and the playful tone helps make the film entertaining as well as offbeat.

Published November 13, 2008