Posted: 05/04/2009

Personal Effects (2009)

by Sawyer J. Lahr

Personal Effects (2009)

Ashton Kutcher gives a very unexpected performance as a distraught college drop-out who becomes entangled with a widowed mother Linda (Michelle Pfeiffer) and her deaf teenage son as they both await the verdict on the suspected murderers of their loved ones. Kutcher plays Walter, emotionally stunted and unable to love anything under the grey Vancouver skies.

Walter’s mother, Gloria (Kathy Bates) learns to forgive the unconfirmed perpetrator of her brutally raped and murdered daughter. Annie’s body is as graphically displayed as the victims on the prime time CBS show CSI. The sickening sight reappears as a haunting image that Walter lifts weights to force out of his mind.

Linda survives her husband’s murder with a newfound independence and clarity. Her deaf son represses his grief and fights off bullies by threatening them with his father’s gun. Walter intervenes as the boy’s protector and later mentor and father figure by training Clay to wrestle on the High School team. Meanwhile,the Marlboro-smoking Cougar, Linda, puts the moves on Walter. Walter sets a better example for Clay than his father, but Walter’s anger boils to the surface of his unsteady hands, threatening to break up the relative peace.

Because of Kutcher’s past roles, certain lines like “I’m a chicken” in reference to his pathetic chicken suit work uniform feel comedic during a very serious scene. Then, he persists in reminding us that he is playing a dramatic role. Forget Dude Where’s My Car?. Kutcher keeps up with his veteran co-stars and manages to deliver a memorable, affecting, and disturbing performance.

Sawyer J. Lahr is a film critic living in Chicago.

Sawyer J. Lahr is Chief Editor of the forthcoming online publication, Go Over the Rainbow. He also writes a monthly film column for Mindful Metropolis, a conscious living magazine in Chicago, IL.

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