User Reviews

Future sociologists will find this movie an interesting subject, delving into the ennui of the alcohol-infused upper middle class. Self-absorbed, self-pitying characters with a decidedly small-town ethos mope about but never seem to develop any passion or joie de vivre except for the graphic artist youngster who does an Amy Winehouse when confronted with rehab. Ben Mendelssohn can't seem to decide if he is truly filled with angst or is still portraying the snarky Bloodline character. I found his acting less than believable. The movie was, however, better than watching some dumb Batman or Aquaman or one of the other "superhero" films out there.

It is a really successful film. I liked it. It shows a middle-aged man who, after years of being the "perfect" society role model/suburban father, decides he wants to be HAPPY. Whatever that means... He finds himself without joy in the middle of his life, going to a job he doesn't like, paying for a house, raising a family. Pretty much everything you'd expect from a man his age in that town. The story has an existential tone, which he perfectly explains in a metaphor about a web: you make connections with everyone around you and I thought that the more you made, the more important you are and the more you will be remembered. But in reality, you disappear, and the people you connected with, only make new conexions... You go from "role model citizen" to a disappointing person in the blink of an eye.

I think that by chance, the protagonist in his egoism, trying to find happiness far from what society expects of him, finds that his true happiness is what he walked away from: his family, his son, his life and only by moving away... He realizes.

These social misfits, like the main character, his son, Charlie, live their lives differently and are ostracized as disappointing members of the town. I think the film is about a new take on that kind of prejudice. Just as the story of Laica, who died without even knowing the "greater purpose" she was serving, simply living and dying for the "greater cause" of society.

Definitely recommended.

Nicole Holofcener is a director who likes, maybe even loves, to test the audience's patience. Some of her films - Friends with Money and Enough Said come to mind - take the art of nuance and plays with it. In The Land of Steady Habits, her actors lay it on so thick there is nearly no movement from scene to scene. Ben Mendelsohn is Anders, a young retiree from the New York rat race who is a mumbling near catatonic guy drifting through a mid-life crises. He's left his wife and HGTV perfect house for a condo. In a world that exists only in the movies or John Cheever's fiction, Anders beds random women he meets while decorating his new digs. HIs ex-wife (Edie Falco) has a job that also only exists in fiction, running a local ESL program for all those immigrant who don't speak English who live in a town made up of New York bond and fund managers. their son, Preston is a lost 27 year old working for mom and scamming the clients. The plot is something like this - Anders stumbles in to the annual Xmas party at his old house, gets stoned with a group of high schoolers. He eventually befriends one of the kids, Charlie, played by Charlie Tahan (essentially revising his role of Wyatt on Ozark as a lovable stoner) who is the child of Anders former best friends. Bad decisions and bad things ensue. Meanwhile, Anders meets cute with Barbara, played by Connie Britton as if she is in a completely different movie than the other actors. This relationship goes badly as well but inexplicably, Barbara apparently sees something good in Anders that the screenwriters failed to share with the audience. The film meanders to a non-ending like most of Holofcener's films. Events happen but you really don't care.