Seen on: August 11, 2009

The players: Director: Neal Brennan, Writers: Andy Stock, Rick Stempson, Cast: Jeremy Piven, Ving Rhames, David Koechner, Kathryn Hahn, Tony Hale, James Brolin, Ed Helms

Facts of interest: Will Ferrell and Adam McKay produced "The Goods."

The plot: Salesman Don Ready (Jeremy Piven) heads to a failing car dealership to set up a massive three-day sale event and save the place.

Our thoughts: Jeremy Piven’s got the goods and delivers tons of big-screen fun in Neal Brennan’s “The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard,” a surprisingly amusing comedy about an eccentric salesman who heads out to save a failing car dealership and ends up saving himself in the process. Let’s find out what this guy is all about.

“The Goods” is not necessarily the summer’s smartest, most sophisticated comedy, but it certainly doesn’t beat around the bush when it comes to using its raunchy humor to pull off one witty joke after another. Yep, this one’s all about the talking, and the talking sure delivers the goods.

Piven completely shines in the enthusiastic role of Don Ready, a patriotic salesman who takes his crew of professionals to the town of Temecula, where he embarks on the challenging mission to help local car dealer Ben Selleck (James Brolin) get rid of all his vehicles during a big three-day Fourth of July sale.

Clocking in at a short 90 minutes, “The Goods” doesn’t waste much time setting up its main story line. While the first five minutes or so briefly but efficiently introduce the lead characters, the rest of the film follows Don and his gang as they apply their unorthodox methods to get the job done and sell more than 200 cars.

Much to my surprise, I highly enjoyed watching these guys do their thing. Sure, “The Goods” is incredibly brainless and vulgar throughout, but at the same time, most of the jokes work perfectly fine. The plot moves along swiftly as Don tries to turn the dealership’s salesmen into heroes, and not one minute of his efforts is boring or monotonous.

“The Goods” comes to you courtesy of the guys who also brought us “Anchorman” and “Step Brothers,” so you kind of already know what to expect before you give this one a shot. Needless to say, the film’s provocative sense of humor and refreshing cast worked for me, and it’s something I would definitely want to revisit again.

As I mentioned before, Jeremy Piven is the heart and soul of this film. His Don Ready is both a likeable character and a jerk, and as the film progresses, we get to see who this guy really is and what all went wrong in his life. In one way, this three-day job gives Ready a chance to set things straight and start over.

Piven’s comic timing is spot-on, and I found it hard not to laugh at whatever this guy was saying. Ving Rhames, David Koechner and Kathryn Hahn make up Ready’s team, and they’re equally hilarious. Ed Helms, Rob Riggle, Alan Thicke and a memorable Will Ferrell round out the supporting cast.

Freaky quote: "I'm Don Ready, and I got the goods!" – Jeremy Piven

The final word: “The Goods” may not have the most inviting title, but the film boasts an energy that I found very easy to enjoy. This comedy is about as silly as raunchy comedies can get, but unlike many others of the genre, it works from start to finish. Piven really does have the goods, and you should go watch him deliver.

 Article by Franck Tabouring