You've got a lot to be proud of: you've turned a bunch of losers into a team of top-notch salespeople. - The film “The Salesman” is a comedy of the 2009 year of American production, shot for ten million dollars, where one of the producers was the famous comedian Will Ferrell, who starred in a small role in “The Salesman”, as well as director Adam McKay, who in turn directed several films with the same Ferrell, and is now known for more serious works such as “Game on the Decline” (2015), “Power” (2018) and “Don’t Look Up” (2021). The main director of The Salesman was stand-up comedian Neil Brennan, who had previously worked only on the creation of the television comedy Perfectly Amazing (2006), and it did not receive much distribution. The script was written by a creative tandem consisting of Rick Stampson and Andy Stock. They also had only one experience in film - they created the plot for the sports comedy Gary, Tennis Coach (2008) with Sean William Scott in the title role. The film was released in the format of "direct-to-video", and after "Seller" Stampson and Stoke in new projects were not seen.
And at the same time, all under the "Seller" gathered a fairly decent cast. The lead role in the comedy was played by Jeremy Piven, who was already well known for his role in the TV series “Beauties”, which lasted for eight seasons between 2004 and 2011. For his performance in the series, Piven was nominated for the Golden Globe Award five times, and in 2008 he received the coveted statuette. In addition, the actor was awarded three times for “Beauties” and an Emmy Award. Piven's company on the set of "The Seller" consisted of Wing Rams, James Brolin, Jordan Spiro, David Cockner, Katherine Khan and Ed Helms. In addition, in secondary roles, you can see Ken Jeong, Craig Robinson, Rob Riggle, T.J. Miller and Charles Napierre, as well as Gina Gershon, who was not listed in the credits, as well as the already mentioned Will Ferrell. In general, with such a cast, one could count on some success, but the Seller collected only fifteen million dollars at the world box office, and the budget, I recall, was ten, so the comedy hardly met the expectations of its creators.
Jeremy Piven's hero is a cunning used car salesman, Don Reedy, who moves from one city to another, from one firm to another, in the company of his devoted associates Jimmy (Rames), Brent (Cockner) and Babs (Hahn). And after another successful sale, they receive an order from Ben Selleck (Brolin), whose business has been frankly experiencing hard times recently. For Don, helping Ben is a matter of honor. In addition, all this happens on the eve of Independence Day, so Don chooses the method of playing on patriotic feelings, and his team makes every effort to prove once again that they are one of the best in their specific work. Then comes Don’s romantic fascination with the daughter of their new employer, Evie (Spiro), who is about to marry the odious son of the local oligarch Paxton (Helms). And Don seems to remember his teacher (Furrell) telling him that you can't mix business and personal, but he can't do anything about it, so he even makes an unexpected bet with Paxton. . .
In principle, the plot plan of the "Seller" was not bad, it really has some idea, and the writers tried to prescribe each leading character, creating a certain character, so that the viewer was curious to observe the development of the action in general, and not only the central character. But still, many characters turned out to be quite template, built on strong American canons, without any features. And only thanks to the actors who tried to make the most of the images provided to them, and it was noticeable that many of them play with pleasure. Apparently, Neil Brennan gave them creative freedom on set. But given the fact that the genre of “Seller” refers to comedy, the jokes here are quite weak. This can be clearly seen in the image of Helms, who created a truly odious character, struck by narcissism and stupidity, and every appearance caused irritation. But Katherine Khan in many ways revealed her comedic talent in The Seller, which was clearly lacking in other actors. Including Jeremy Piven, although he also tried very hard.
In general, this film could well count on something more, if the material was approached more thoughtfully and prescribed really funny jokes. And it seems like the movie looks good, but only for once, because of what the "Seller" can be called a passing film. But fans of the same Jeremy Piven or Katherine Khan are unlikely to be very disappointed with the play of their favorites, although Khan provided us with a somewhat preoccupied with unusual sexual preferences. And once again, it is worth adding that The Seller is a strong American film that will not be fully understood by the viewer on the other side of the Ocean.
6 out of 10