Personal Effects Review-Written By Kelsey Zukowski

Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathy Bates, Spencer Hudson

Written & Directed By: David Hollander

Release Date: May 12, 2009

Grade: B-

Ashton Kutcher has really fallen in the last couple of years. Really his early work is the only thing that has made him very noteworthy in the first place. He delivered the laughs in Dude, Where’s My Car? And was one of the funniest elements in the already very funny, That 70’s Show. Between these two, he seemed to have mastered the dumb but hilarious stoner character. There are a few things he has done since then that have been enjoyable, but we have seen a lot more bad from him than good. The Butterfly Effect was one of the only exceptions to this. Not only did I respect him for trying to challenge himself with material so different than what was in his comfort zone, but it was an interesting and engaging movie. In 2009 he has been getting back to this in that he is at least challenging himself and taking on material that goes against the grain for him with Spread, but much more so with Personal Effects. Personal Effects is based on the short story, “Mansion on the Hill” by Rick Moody. It hits on a lot of different genres such as romance, drama, and thriller, but ultimately it is a movie about what losing loved ones to murder can do to you and whether being around people who have gone through the same thing is comforting or poisonous.

Walter (Kutcher) was once a wrestler at the University of Iowa and had the chance to compete at the championship level. However, when he found out that his twin sister had been murdered he came home and left the whole life he had behind. Since then he has been living with his mother (Bates) and his deceased sister’s 4 year-old daughter. He wears a giant chicken suit and stands outside all day handing out coupons. He doesn’t do very well with people as he has simply become more and more restrained. Walter really doesn’t have any friends and is very alone. His mother has been going to therapy catered towards those who have lost a loved one. One day she insists on him coming where he meets Linda (Pfeiffer) who lost her husband and has a deaf son, Clay (Hudson), who has been much more aggressive and violent since he lost his father. As his sister’s trail is still on going Walter spends an awful lot of time at the court house, obsessing over justice being served, which thus far hasn’t happened. He begins seeing Linda there since she is working there.

Linda puts together weddings, but every time she goes she is just reminded of her late husband and cannot stop crying. She doesn’t seem to be able to control this and is in risk of losing this job that she really enjoys doing. So Linda invites Walter to come with her to make sure she doesn’t sob out of control for once. Walter agrees to go with her and ends up going to many of these weddings with her. Soon they become a big part of each other’s lives. Walter even becomes involved in Clay’s life. Clay is being picked on one day and Walter stands up for him only for Clay to pull a gun on them anyway. The gun is the last thing he has left of his father. He is struggling with loneliness, aggression, and loss and there are very few people who he could even communicate this to if he himself actually knew how he felt. Walter introduces him to the thing that always helped him get through the hard times; wrestling. He trains Clay, which he really responds to as he now has a way to vent the anger and feel a manhood in himself that his father could have been proud of. Walter is much happier than he has been in a long time, but he can’t deny that he still isn’t living his life to the fullest. Linda tells him how important Walter is both to her and Clay’s life now, but it is clear that he isn’t so sure that he can have a full life if he stays there. In his eyes, Linda is helping him through his pain, but at the same time she is also a reminder of that pain.

The acting in the film was one of the best parts. There was an element in Ashton Kutcher’s performance as Walter that was slightly off. He brought forth a lonesome and angered man that has essentially lost his entire life. His performance was believable, but partially because his character didn’t talk or let out his personality very freely he didn’t seem like a full or fleshed out character. More of this was from the writing and it did make the connection we saw between him and some of the other characters a little less strong than they should have been. Michelle Pfeiffer does very well across from Kutcher, adding a bit more to the scenes they have together. Kathy Bates brings out the clearly pained, but somewhat more alive mother, even if this realization she has is from the fragile state she is clearly in underneath. One of the most notable performances in the film though was Spencer Hudson as Clay in his first major film. He barely talks at all, yet communicates so much tension and fragility that hides under the physical violence he relies on this to keep his sanity. Misunderstanding is a major part of his character. Next to no one, understands him and there is so much that he doesn’t understand from issues about his dad to the confused state he finds himself in now. The few words and verbal insight we do get from him are through the voice narration done by Kutcher’s That 70’s Show co-star, Topher Grace. It’s an interesting move to have voice narration done by a different actor than the one who is playing that character. It worked and through Grace’s troubled yet all knowing narration and the dialogue itself we were really shown the connection between Clay and Walter, not just how they know each other and what they did for one another, but how at their inner most core are very similar.

The love story in Personal Effects is somewhat rushed, but through Kutcher’s character we do get acknowledgement of that in the end. Walter doesn’t forget about the life he wanted to go back to after the his sister's murderer was found. One of the most interesting elements was definitely the grim trial, which hurt Walter’s sister more than it brought upon any justice. When things really start heating up is actually after the trial is over. Walter is in an extremely dark place when he goes after his own form of justice, but what he finds out there sends him to an even bleaker reality. The spiraling defeat this takes at the end gives us a great change of pace and makes for a compelling turn. I also enjoyed the wrestling aspect that they used to connect Walter and Clay. It served as a means for Clay to release his inner anger and frustration in a safer environment that the deathly one he was heading towards. The question is posed whether this will be enough. Walter is able to feel important once again. His life has been utterly meaningless, but he has been too numb to change anything. Now he is able to feel like he is still defending his sister’s honor while letting a bit of his old life live on through Clay. Personal Effects has many different elements ranging over several genres, but few of them are as strong as they need to be for them to all come together and leave the audience with a well rounded and fully fleshed out film. It just falls slightly short of this, which is a shame. Still, it is a pretty interesting film on loss and how those that are left behind are affected by it and struggle to defeat it.