Product Description

(Drama) David Schwimmer stars as Duane, a down-on-his-luck divorced father who works the night shift as a pit boss at Caesars Palace in Atlantic City. Heartsick about the demise of his marriage to Linda (Janeane Garofalo), he does nothing but work and drink. When his visitation rights are threatened after he's caught driving while intoxicated with his daughter in the backseat, Duane decides that the time has come to get his life back on track before he loses everything. DUANE HOPWOOD is a moving and humorous look at the limits of unconditional love, what defines a family, and how we're all responsible for our own happiness.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary
Theatrical Trailer

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57745 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2006-04-25
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 83 minutes

Amazon.com
Duane Hopwood finds David Schwimmer delivering one of the best performances of his career as an alcoholic, divorced dad whose luck is running out and whose compromised judgment is costing him access to his kids. Duane, a pit boss at an Atlantic City casino, jeopardizes visitation rights with his two daughters when he's caught driving drunk with one of the girls asleep in his car. That mistake sets into motion a number of others, pushing Duane into a corner of despair precisely when he needs to maintain stability to see his children. Writer-director Matt Mulhern, best known as a character actor, resists the temptation to turn his story into a cautionary nightmare about the evils of addiction. Subtle, low-key and frequently wry, Duane Hopwood is really a smart film about how hard yet inevitable it is for anyone to outgrow a broken life and allow the elements of a new one to form. Janeane Garofalo, somewhat unrecognizable under platinum-blonde hair, is very good as Duane's sympathetic but determined ex-wife, and Judah Friedlander slowly but surely grows on one as Anthony, a yammering, would-be comic whose loyalty to Duane really matters in the clutch. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

A schizo film...
While I watched this film, it was schizophernic. There were some good dramatic moments, balanced with ridiculously cute montages, badly written supporting characters, and inane dialogue. David Schwimmer is pretty good as the title character. I never watched Friends on a regular basis, so I don't think of Ross like other people might when they see him. He's not a total disaster in this dramatic role, but he doesn't give an Oscar worthy performance. The character of Duane's ex-wife (nicely played by Janeane Garofalo, who does the best she can with her underwritten role) is a good example of what's wrong with the film. At the beginning, she is adamant about her anger and her decision to divorce him. At the end of the film, she's forgiving of him, and they part friends, despite the fact that she is moving to South Carolina with their kids and her new boyfriend. That type of logic plays more like a sitcom than it does a film that supposed to be a realistic depiction of alcoholism. The filmmakers never really give us a clear reason as to why Duane started drinking. He's still in love with his (now) ex-wife, he loves his kids, and he likes his job. Duane mentions his parents with affection, so he wasn't abused as a child. But he drinks nevertheless. There is also awkward comic relief (provided by Duane's roomate, an aspiring standup comic) that really illustrates the two faces of this film. Duane's relationship with a sympathetic bartender seems tacked on. There is an excellent scene where Duane has a breakdown in a casino, but it's nearly ruined by the standup comic's constant yammering throughout it. Overall, it's watchable, but it's not sure what kind of film it really wants to be...

Just Doesn't Work
Expecting to completely enjoy this movie based on some nice things I had heard, I was stunned by my negative reaction. Wow! This movie wants you to care about alcoholic loser Duane and the serious problems that he faces one minute. The next, it wants you to laugh at weird and completely unrealistic characters and situations. Sometimes it tries for subtle realism, sometimes for the absurd. It just doesn't work. If you think child endangerment is funny, this might be the movie for you. But there was no payoff for me. Every time I was tempted to care, the movie then played a comedy bit to throw things off course again.

Not very believable or interesting
I wanted to see this film as a fan of John Krazinski, and he's good. Unfortunately, he's not in it enough. The rest of the movie is an alcoholism story, one that is not particularly new or compelling or believable. Schwimmer has a few good moments, but too much time is spent on crazy subplots and unnecessarily eccentric characters.