The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (**)

The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard. 89 mins. R. Directed by Neal Brennan. Written by Andy Stock & Rick Stempson. Starring Jeremy Piven, James Brolin, David Koechner, Ving Rhames, Kathryn Hahn, and Ed Helms.

On the surface The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard has the "goods." The cast is chock full of funny actors, it's produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, and it's directed by The Chappelle Show's Neal Brennan. Check, check, and check. But like many of the cars sold in the film, The Goods is a lemon. It strives to be outrageous and completely off-the-wall in its style of comedy, but it just comes across as random and forced. There are a few laughs here and there (mostly from Ving Rhames, who's excellent), but most of the gags fall flat. Too bad - the cast is game and you can tell that everyone thought they were making comedy gold, but something got lost in translation between filming on set and the end result on screen. It might not make for a bad rental though, especially if you're in the mood for a brainless, kooky comedy, with characters who behave stupidly in an almost unrelenting manner.

-John