If you have a lot of friends chances are you have at least one friend who is a big goof ball – someone who is like Chris Farley, Zach Galifianakis and Ted (the teddy bear by the same film name) all rolled up into one. Sometimes these people can be the life of the party. Other times their antics are unwelcome and unappreciated.
The film, Best Man Down, is about such a character. His name is Lumpy (Tyler Labine). He is the best man at his best friend’s wedding – Scott (Justin Long) and Kristen (Jess Weixler). His crazy antics are certainly not appropriate for a wedding reception, including dancing on the table, throwing up in the ladies restroom and spilling champagne on the bride’s $3,000 dress.
Scott orders Lumpy to go back to his hotel room, in hopes that he will sleep it off. Instead Lumpy is full of energy and bounces around the room until he accidently falls off the bed and hits his head hard and blacks out. When he wakes up he discovers his head is bleeding profusely. For some odd reason (which was never addressed in the film) he goes outside and walks across a field where he dies on top of a cactus.
This was not how Scott and Kristen wanted their wedding to end.
It turns out that Lumpy had no one in his life. Scott was pretty much his only friend and he wasn’t close to his family. The burden of dealing with his funeral arrangements fall upon Scott.
Scott had to borrow money from Lumpy to pay for the honeymoon. Now he must cancel his honeymoon and use the funds to pay for Lumpy’s funeral and burial.
When Kristen looks at Lumpy’s phone to contact all his friends and family to notify them of the funeral they find that he has only 5 people listed – Scott and two pizza places. There is also a listing for someone by the name of Ramsey Anderson (Addison Timlin) who lives north of Minneapolis where the funeral is taking place. Scott and Kristen head off to this small town to track down Ramsey. Why they just didn’t call Ramsey I’ll never know.
Ramsey turns out to be a 15 year old girl. She lives at home with her mother and her mother’s meth dealing boyfriend. They move around A LOT and Ramsey doesn’t have any friends. She’s also having a hard time dealing with her mother and her mother’s horrible boyfriend.
What is Lumpy’s relationship with this mysterious 15 year old girl. What secrets does she know about Lumpy that even his best friend doesn’t know? To find out you need to pick up a copy of Best Man Down, available today where most movies are sold.
This film is billed as a comedy and drama. Drama yes, comedy NO! I didn’t find it funny at all. Not one bit. It was very sad and depressing. It made me want to reach inside my television and give everyone a great big hug.
I felt sorry for Ramsey but I really felt sorry for Lumpy. Behind his goofy persona was a very sad man who tried to make the best of the hand that was dealt to him.
I would put this film in the same category as Up, Marley and Me and Steal Magnolias. It’s very sad. 🙁
For more information you can check out the official website. The film is also on Facebook.
Here is the trailer for your enjoyment.
Kimberly
*I received a free screener to review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.
Allison Downes says
This looks like a nice movie! I like the casting. Thank you for sharing.
M.Clark says
Judging by the title “Best Man Down,” I would have assumed that the show is a comedy, but so far nothing that I’ve read is at all funny. Maybe it’s supposed to be a dark comedy, definitely not something I want to watch. Thank you for this review.