BrentAMG
On screen, Larry David's luck sucks, this is clear. If you have seen HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm you are privy to this idea. In "Curb," as many fans call it (myself being one of them), Larry David plays himself. He is a grade-A jerk whom most people can identify with in some way. At the very least, people admire some of the qualities he possesses, such as his unabashed honesty. From what I understand, David is not characterizing himself that much. He really is kind of an off-putting person. But does he really have bad luck? I mean, there is no way a successful writer/ actor has that much bad luck. That is what I thought, at least, until I saw Clear History where David, again, plays a person much like himself who has a knack to get stuck in unfortunate events.Clear History is a story of a disgraced former marketing guru, Nathan, (David) who plots to get revenge on his boss, Will (Jon Hamm). Nathan owns a 10 percent share in an electric car company. When Will reveals the name of the car to be "Howard," Nathan protests that he cannot market that name. Being the bull-headed individual that he (and apparently real Larry David) is, he offers Will an ultimatum of changing the name of the vehicle or selling back his ten percent stake. Will buys back the shares. Soon after, Nathan's wife (soon to be ex-wife) tells him to go get his shares back. Unfortunately for Nathan, Will refuses. In the not-so-distant future, the "Howard" takes off and Nathan's ten percent stake became worth $1 billion. The media catches word of the partner who dipped right before the break-through and look to interview him. In typical "Davidian" fashion, Nathan humiliates himself on national television. The disgrace ruins his marriage (David can't keep a wife) and forces him to change his name and go into solitude.Nathan finds peace on an island from Southern California. That is, until Will and his wife (Kate Hudson) begin building a massive house in his neighborhood. Will does not recognize Nathan because he is no longer bearded (like above) but looks like classic Larry David. Also, his name is now Rolly. Rolly recalls his former hate for Will and decides to get back at him… by blowing up his house. It is the journey to this event, where we meet familiar faces.Rolly does not know the first thing about blowing up a house so his best friend Frank (Danny McBride) introduces him to some regular crack-pots, Rags and Joe Stumpo (Bill Hader and Michael Keaton), who go into cahoots together. For a moment, Rolly believes that Will's wife, Rhonda, has a hidden desire for him. He switches his plan to stealing Will's wife. When this does not pan out, the initial plan is reenacted until Rolly finds out that Will has been looking for him for the past ten years. Why else does Will want to find Rolly, aka Nathan, but to repay him for the wrong he did him ten years ago? Oh, and that house he was planning to blow up? For terminally sick kids. Finding out Will's true intentions, Nathan rushes back to the mansion, but it is too late. A bus load of children watch the house explode. Three years later, Nathan, Rags, and Stumpo are released from prison. Nathan decides to go by Rolly indefinitely and becomes a sort-of hero on the island. No one really liked the monstrosity of a house Will had built.Overall, Clear History is worth a watch. However, if they released it on DVD/ Blu-Ray, I would not buy it for my collection. While I enjoy Larry David being Larry David, it can get soporific. If you have seen any of Curb Your Enthusiam, you know David's character in this film. Danny McBride's and Bill Hader's characters, while amusing, were typical performances of the actors. Jon Hamm's performance was unorthodox for him and, consequently, enjoyable. Furthermore, Michael Keaton managed to be entertaining through an offbeat role, as he pulled off in The Other Guys. 6.5/10
Hugo Melo
I am a huge fan of both "Seinfeld" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm". His HBO show was one of the series that I made a point of watching every week. When I read about "Clear History" I was super excited. Fisrstly, because the screeplay was written bu David, Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer, all of which worked on Seinfeld at one point. Secondly becasuse it was directed by Greg Motolla, who has made "Superbad", "Paul" and most episodes of the first three seasons of "Arrested Development". Thirdly because of the impressive cast that LD was able to gather. It seemed nothing could go wrong. But somehow the movie fails. The script is not very funny, extremely predictable, meandering and a bit all over the place; the direction is uninspired and devoid of any comedic timming. Those claimming it is an extended "CYE" episode are very wrong in my opinion because whereas "Curb" is absolutely hilarious and guffaw inducing this movie is very much devoid of big laughs. Sure, it rises the very occasional chuckle but overall very tame and uninspired. If you need to watch a better feature film with LD, check out "Whatever Works" directed by Woody Allen. Not in any way original by Woody's standards but good for someone who appreciates Allen's work.
librau2
I must have a vastly different sense of humor than the writers. Sorry, I hated this movie. The Chicago music was great, though. I am not a Larry David fan. However, I thought I'd give it a shot. I had to fast forward through a few of the excruciatingly long, rambling, stupid scenes. The scene with the nanny's hair "issue" was just plain dumb and painful to watch.The fellatio premise was overplayed and added to the annoying features in this movie. The fact that the the co-founder was dumb enough to sell his stock just before the company's release of a new electric car was unbelievable. If I had known that the Seinfeld writers did this movie, I would have passed. I hated Seinfeld, too.
evening1
I thoroughly enjoyed this chance to spend a couple of hours with Larry David.The personality he made famous on "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is transplanted here into the persona of a Silicon Valley marketing hotshot whose errors in judgment wind up costing him big time.After suffering humiliation at home, work, and in the media, David's character -- a dead ringer for the guy who kidnapped Elizabeth Smart -- adopts a new identity in a kind of self-imposed witness-protection program, turning up on Martha's Vineyard, at the bottom of the economical pecking order, as personal aide to a crochety old lady.Funny plot twists transpire with all manner of intriguing side characters, from Liev Schreiber as a scary Chechen, to Michael Keaton as a loony "Caper," and Kate Hudson as a seersucker-favoring trophy wife.This was beautifully done and I hope it's the start of a long movie career for the inimitable David!
