DVD Movie Review: Carpool Guy

Can you beat the system, or does it control you? This is a question faced by Ad exec Joel Goodman (Rick Hearst) as he faces his day to day life.

Recent changes at work are adding pressures. The boss is seeking to fill a higher position vacated by a posthumous colleague. "You'd better be the first one in the office and the last to leave." Also, many of Joel's ad ideas are mysteriously appearing in ads from competitors.

If this wasn't enough, Joel is getting less than subtle hints from his wife that she wants what the neighbors have… children. In addition, she is now spending time with a questionably homosexual male friend while Joel is at work.

Joel, in an act of desperation to get to work early, comes up with a great idea. If he has a passenger in the car, he can use the HOV lane and get into work faster. He invites the local street corner beggar, with the promise of money, to join him in his commute to and from work. This arrangement proves mutually beneficial and leads to more character development and unexpected situation comedy.

This movie has an all star cast that includes many daytime soap opera favorites showing, for the first time, that they can act without the benefit of their rigid characters and ongoing storyline.

It was OK…that's what I can say, it was OK. The characters in this seemed a bit hollow and shallow, sort of like a soap opera. Because of this, you really don't get any emotional tie to them. The plot pints that made the show tolerable revolved around the exposure of the idea leak in the office, end even those seemed a bit too predictable.

If you are a fan of the soaps, don't miss this. It's nice to see familiar actors in new roles. If your interests don't fall this way, I'd say use your entertainment dollars more frugally.

-Flix by Flicks