BRAD’S STATUS


US, 2017, 104 minutes, Colour.
Ben Stiller, Austin Abrams, Jenna Fisher, Michael Sheen, Jemaine Clement, Luke Wilson, Shazi Raja, Luisa Lee, Mike White, Xavier Grobet.
Directed by Mike White.


There is a lot going for this film. It is definitely a film about “men’s business�, which is not to say that women will not be very interested.

It is specifically geared towards middle-aged men. However, younger men will be interested to see what might be in the future for them. Older men might appreciate looking back at how they have handled their middle-age.

Brad is played by Ben Stiller, approaching 50, his 17-year-old son about to go to college. He lives in Sacramento, is head of a non-profit organisation which gives advice to charities. His wife is very contented with her life, her love for her husband, love for and pride for her son, and has a satisfying job working for the government.

But Brad is full of discontent – not only do we see him in his restless state, his voice-over frequently tells us and describes why this is the case. He feels that his life has eluded him.

As we see him restless during the night, unable to sleep, preoccupied about finances and position, wondering when his wife’s parents will die soon and bequeaths them some money (and her appropriate response to his nocturnal meanderings and suggestions is a justified “shut up�).

Actually, his son Troy, a calmly sincere performance by Austin Abrams, is ready to go to college, quietly eager, skilled at music performance and composition. He does not share his father’s neuroticism. Off they fly to the East Coast, for interviews at Harvard and Tufts. The tone is set by Brad’s tantrum at the airport trying to get an upgrade and trying all kinds of manoeuvres, unsuccessfully.

Most of the problem is in his comparing himself with four friends from the past, with whom he went to Tufts during college. Their lives visualised on screen, at least as Brad imagines them. There is tycoon Willie (Jemaine Clement), wealthy, retired at 40, living a life of luxury on Maui. There is Jason (Luke Wilson), a successful businessman, with a family, and his own luxury Playing. And there is Craig (Michael Sheen), advisor to politicians, a television celebrity along with his wife. There is Nick (Mike White who wrote the screenplay and directed), an increasingly successful Hollywood director who is able to marry his producer partner, Xavier. This is the success that irks Brad, continually pressing him to wallow in his self-destructive misery.

Brad follows Troy to his interviews, boasting to any parent willing or unwilling to listen, finds that there has been a mistake with the date which doesn’t seem to faze Truly at all but sends Brad into a funding frenzy calling his friends to pull some strings, even though he has not seen them for years (and discovers that he is not been invited to their various functions).

We know that Brad is going to have to learn some lessons but we don’t know how. One interesting episode occurs when Troy joins up with some fellow students and they go out for a drink, Brad discovering that one of them is very earnest, social justice minded, interested in hearing his ideas on non-profit organisations. He makes a huge faux pas in answering one of her questions by saying that the best advice he can give is to make money!

After Troy’s interviews, he meets up with Craig for dinner at a fashionable restaurant – and, of course, is placed at the table next to the exit to the kitchen then moved when Craig arrives and the waitress is all attention and upgrades them to a classier table.

So, what is Brad to do? He is helped by his son who worries that his father is having a nervous breakdown. He is also helped by listening to musicians playing Dvorak’s humoresque.

The screenplay is intelligent, witty, often stimulating even as we are exasperated with Brad’s self-pity. And the ending is sufficiently open-ended to offer us great pleasure in speculating what might happen to Brad and to Troy.


1. The title? The focus on Brad and his life, as a character, his age and experience, his sense of himself, his preoccupation about his status, rivalries and competitiveness?

2. The Sacramento settings, homes, streets, airport? The Boston settings, the views of the city, hotels and restaurants? Harvard, the entry, the interiors? Tufts and the grounds, the interiors? The concert hall? Scenes in the spectacular parts of Hawaii, New York and the media, Los Angeles and the film industry? The world of Jason, the businessman?

3. The musical score, songs, the use of Humoresque?

4. Brad’s voice-over, his insomnia, talking to the audience and to himself, his preoccupation, his expressions, stream of consciousness, the situation of his son going to college, concern about money, asking his wife about the death of her parents and bequeathing money – and her telling him to shut up?

5. The visualising of the stories of Willie, his life on Maui, wealthy, in his 40s, the women? The contrast with Jason, wealth, business, his plane, life of luxury, family?

6. Craig, and his wife, celebrities, political adviser, the media? Nick, Hollywood director, success, Xavier as his partner, the gay wedding? And Brad not invited? Brad and his continual comparisons?

7. Troy, age 17, high school, ordinary young man, his musical talent, performance, composing? Planning to go to college, ready but quietly eager? His response to his parents? The planning of the interviews on the East Coast? Going to the airport, Brad and the carry on about being upgraded and failing? His reaction to his father, calling him overbearing? The sharing the hotel room in Boston?

8. Melanie, loving wife, working for the government, enjoying her job, the various phone calls, happy in life, proud of her son?

9. The visualising of the friends, the Tufts memories, the visit to Tufts and Brad wanting to visit the professor, discovering that he had died? And Craig telling him that he had given the oration? Brad not being informed?

10. Brad and his behaviour, erratic, emotional, decision about upgrading, going to the counter, the arguments, his cheap ticket, his silver status? The later sequence in the restaurant, being put at the table near the door to the kitchen? Craig arriving, the woman and her eager attention, the better table, the people coming to Craig, photos, autographs?

11. Brad waiting at Harvard, boasting to the mother waiting, Troy and his making mistake in the day, Brad upset, Troy going on the tour of the University?

12. Brad ringing Willie to get Craig’s number, ringing Jason, ringing Craig, the explanation of the situation, the discussion about the professor of music, the Dean of entries, the arrangements?

13. The night, meeting the girls? Their studies, music, performance? The idealistic girl, Brad and his non-profit organisation, not making money, her thesis? His return, the discussions, telling her to make money, her reaction, analysing him, causing him shame?

14. Troy’s interview, his disappointment with the music professor, rather mundane? The discussions with the Dean? The tour of Tufts, Troy interested In Tufts because of his father?

15. The dinner, meeting Craig, the discussions? The true stories about Willie and his making his money, drunk, drugs, women? Nick and his success? Jason, big business, dishonest, thief, his planes? The shock for Brad to hear these stories?

16. Brad going to the concert, with Troy, the girls and the performance? Humoresque? His weeping, Troy wondering whether his father was having a breakdown?

17. The open ending, open to where Troy would go to college, and Brad happy just that he was alive?