TIFF Review: Brad’s Status

A father experiences a mid-life crisis as his son goes about applying and touring different universities.

When reflecting upon and imagining the high life being lived by former university classmates, Brad Sloan (Ben Stiller) feels like he has amounted to being a big disappointment.  Matters come to a head when a missed admissions interview at Harvard, causes Sloan to seek out those whom he envies in order to help his son get a second chance.

Constant dreams and narration serve as a reminder that Brad Sloan feels that his life is boring and that his former friends and classmates have the world as their personal playground.  These elements are funny but get repetitive which does not always help the cause of the self-loathing and self-centred protagonist who believes that his wife’s contentment has undermined his ambition.  As the story progresses filmmaker Mike White reveals that the grass is not necessarily greener on the other side with bittersweet humour.

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada; he can be found at LinkedIn.