''Brad's Status'' is a 2017 American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film written and directed by Mike White and starring

Ben Stiller Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is the son of the comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. Stiller was a member of a group of comedic actors colloquially known ...

Austin Abrams Austin Noah Abrams (born September 2, 1996) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Ron Anderson in the fifth and sixth seasons of the television series '' The Walking Dead'' (2015–2016), as Ethan Daley in ''Euphoria'' (since 2019) ...

Michael Sheen Michael Christopher Sheen OBE (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor, television producer and political activist. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage rol ...

Jenna Fischer Regina Marie "Jenna" Fischer (born March 7, 1974) is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Pam Beesly on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013), for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Suppor ...

, and

Luke Wilson Luke Cunningham Wilson (born September 21, 1971) is an American actor known for his roles in films such as ''Bottle Rocket'' (1996), '' Rushmore'' (1998), ''My Dog Skip'' (2000), '' Legally Blonde'' (2001), ''The Royal Tenenbaums'' (2001), ''Id ...

. It premiered on September 9 at the

2017 Toronto International Film Festival The 42nd annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 7 to 17 September 2017. There were fourteen programmes, with the Vanguard and City to City programmes both being retired from previous years, with the total number of films down b ...

in the juried Platform section, and was theatrically released by

Amazon Studios Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...

and

Annapurna Pictures Annapurna Pictures is an independent American media company founded by Megan Ellison in 2011, that specializes in film production, live theatre production, television through its Annapurna Television division, and video game publishing through i ...

on September 15, 2017.

Plot

Brad Sloan runs his own

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

, and lives a comfortable life with his loving wife and son, but cannot help contemplating how his old friends Craig Fisher, Billy Wearslter, Jason Hatfield, and Nick Pascale are rich and accomplished. Craig works in the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

and published a best-selling book; Jason owns a

hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as ...

firm; Billy sold a company he founded, moved to Maui, and retired; and Nick is a Hollywood director. Brad's wife, Melanie, tries to comfort Brad, telling him that they do not need to compare themselves with the wealthiest 1%. In the morning, Brad and his son, Troy, leave for

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

to visit colleges. After Troy confesses to him that he aims to get into

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, Brad sees this as a way to make up for his lost ambitions. After arriving at Harvard to meet with admissions, they find out they have missed the appointment by one day. Brad argues to see the admission committee, but Troy gets him to back down. Melanie suggests that Brad should call Craig, which he reluctantly agrees. Brad calls Billy to get Craig's number and finds out that Nick married his boyfriend a few years back, but Brad was not invited. He then laments how his friends' exclusion of him confirms his fears: that he is not only a failure in his own eyes but to others as well. Brad also reflects about his waning sex life with Melanie and how his wife easily gets satisfied, which he thinks might have undermined his ambitions. At a restaurant, Brad opens up to Troy about feeling left out, and Troy picks up on things. After talking to Craig, Craig gets Troy a meeting with the famous Harvard music professor and the dean of admissions. Brad and his son meet Ananya, a high school musician friend of his son, and her friend Maya. Brad relishes Ananya's idealism and her respect for his work, reminding him of his better days. She also reveals to Brad that she did not like Craig's lectures since she finds him sexist and arrogant. After having dinner with them, Brad and Troy turn down the offer of drinks with them and return to their hotel. That night, Brad can not sleep so he decides to have a drink with Ananya. He tells her that the non-profit life was a mistake and he should have tried to make money. As he is talking, he recognizes that he's lost her admiration; but he goes on about his perceived mistakes in his career, relative to the success of his friends. Ananya tells him that he is living a privileged life and that there are kids she knows in India who are lucky to have dinner, so he should be grateful for what he has in his life. Troy meets his role model music composer thanks to Craig pulling some strings. However, when Troy tells Brad that his idol is not as cool as he thought, they get in an argument where Brad tells Troy that he cannot judge people for selling out because he is just living in a bubble. The argument soon ends and Troy attends his interview. During the interview, Jason calls Brad in a rush that Brad does not initially pick up on because of his self-focus. Jason informs him that he is at the Mayo Clinic and that his 3-year old daughter has a tethered spine. Shaken by the news, Brad forgets to ask Troy about how his interview went. Troy tell Brad things went really well. Brad then accompanies Troy to

Tufts Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learnin ...

, his alma mater, where he learns his old professor just died. Watching Troy go on the tour at Tufts, his thoughts are interrupted when Melanie returns his call. Brad expresses his pride about his son and wishes Melanie were there with them. The next night, Brad has dinner with Craig, to properly thank him for his help. He finds out that his old friends, the ones he believes are leading privileged lives, are actually living with major problems. In addition to Jason Hatfield's daughter having a serious medical condition, he learns Jason's company is under legal investigation. He also learns Billy Wearslter is an addict and alcoholic. Craig also expresses some homophobic remarks about Nick. While Brad tolerates Craig's constant bragging and backhanded compliments, eventually Brad feels conflicted about how Craig treats him, questioning if they really are friends. When Craig seems confused at Brad's reaction, Brad abruptly leaves their dinner. He decides to join Troy at the orchestral performance where Ananya and Maya are playing, explaining to Troy he'd rather be there with him. The beautiful music transports Brad into feeling emotional and reflective, realizing he still loves the things of the world. After returning to the hotel that evening, Troy asks his father if he is having a nervous breakdown. Brad said he just sometimes has doubts that people view him as a failure. Troy explains that everyone only thinks of themselves, so they don't even consider whether Brad is a failure or not. Troy adds that his opinion is the only one that matters, and he loves his Dad. Brad is touched and mollified by Troy's words. In his thoughts, Brad is trying to imagine the future. The movie ends with him repeating, "We're still alive. I am still alive," as he turns over and goes to sleep. At the end of the credits, Brad's imagination wanders back into thinking that his son is

busking Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is pr ...

Cast

as Brad Sloan *

as Craig Fisher *

as Melanie Sloan *

as Jason Hatfield *

as Troy Sloan, Brad and Melanie's son ** Devon Packer as young Troy Sloan * Jemaine Clement as Billy Wearslter * Mike White as Nick Pascale *

Jimmy Kimmel James Christian Kimmel (born November 13, 1967) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is the host and executive producer of ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', a late-night talk show that premiered on ABC on January 26, 2003, ...

as himself * Shazi Raja as Ananya

Production

On July 13, 2016, it was announced that

Plan B Entertainment Plan B Entertainment, Inc., more commonly known as Plan B, is an American production company founded in November in 2001 by Brad Grey, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston and Kristin Hahn. In 2005, after Pitt and Aniston divorced, Grey became the CEO o ...

was developing a comedy film, ''Brad's Status'', written and directed by Mike White, in which

would star. On October 31, 2016,

came aboard to co-finance and distribute the film.

, and

joined Stiller in the cast.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as ...

on the film began in October 2016 in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Release

In May 2017, it was announced that

and

, who produced another Amazon-released film, '' Wiener-Dog'', would co-distribute the film on September 15, 2017.

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film has an approval rating of 79% based on 175 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''Brad's Status'' transcends its familiar premise with insightful observations and affecting interplay between stars Ben Stiller and Austin Abrams." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, another review aggregator, the film has a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

References

External links

* {{Mike White 2017 films 2017 comedy-drama films Amazon Studios films American comedy-drama films Films directed by Mike White Films produced by Sidney Kimmel Films scored by Mark Mothersbaugh Films with screenplays by Mike White Films shot in Montreal Films shot in Boston Midlife crisis films Plan B Entertainment films American independent films 2017 independent films Sidney Kimmel Entertainment films Vertigo Films films Films about father–son relationships 2010s English-language films 2010s American films