The Beaver

THE BEAVER (2011) - May 13, 2011
I think it's pretty clear that if Mel Gibson had known that this movie was going to come out at such a delicate time in his career, he may have had second thoughts; the character he plays here is pretty much flat-out crazy and barely likable, and probably isn't going to do much help win over those who were turned off by his recent outbursts.  The craziness of his character is an interesting choice, but one I'm not entirely certain works all that well.  Gibson's character is so crazy -- and crazy right from the get-go, as we never see him before his crippling depression -- that it becomes kind of hard to root for him.  I was rooting for his family -- Anton Yelchin in particular creates a character that we definitely come to care about, albiet one we have seen many times before -- but aside from that I had no real stake in whether or not Gibson's character got better.  The movie was decently made and well acted, but... yeah.  Not great.  **1/2