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Brad’s Status (2017)
If your cup is always full don’t waste your time with this film. For the rest of us, it is a guilt-inducing reminder that our cup may be fuller than we think. Although it is light on big laughs and it does not have a big narrative, Brad’s Status (2017) delivers a film-length interior monologue that probes our obsession with aspirational lifestyles.
Brad Stone (Ben Shiller) is not ageing well. When he starts comparing his half century of life with a few of his classmates he feels like a failure. Despite owning a small non-profit agency that helps people, having an attractive and loving wife Melanie (Jenna Fischer), and a remarkably well-adjusted teenage son Troy (Austin Abrams), Brad has a gnawing sense of inadequacy. He sees his old high school friends living fantasy lives, like retiring to a tropical island, wallowing in celebrity, and flying around in private jets. Troy’s visit to the east coast to pick a college is a chance for father-son bonding but all it does is remind Brad that he is a loser. He cannot score an airline seat upgrade to impress his son, he can’t seem to even win the respect of hotel check-in staff; in fact, nobody really notices Brad. But through Troy’s mature young eyes, Brad is a great dad.
This is not a film for everyone. The action and tension curves are close to flat, while Brad’s introspective narration is a mid-life crisis tale that sounds like middle-class aspiration syndrome. It’s possible to see Brad as an avatar for the ills of modern society. The dialogue is self-indulgently immersed in the politics of envy and the quest to self-legitimise through material possessions and public success. He is a victim of conservative individualism where self-interest has a higher moral value than public interest. His self-doubt will resonate for many and Ben Shiller is cast perfectly for the role. He plays Brad with a kind of Woody Allen-style angst-tinged whimsy which may tire some while amuse many. His son is his emotional foil, and young Austin Abrams plays the part with deadpan wisdom beyond his years and amusement that his weird father should struggle so much over so little.
The message of this film lies buried under its comic treatment of a bland story. The blessings in Brad’s life are obvious to us but not to him, as are the several reasons to doubt the people he admires. Brad’s Status is a warm-hearted tonic for anyone afflicted with anxiety over what life has not provided. When taken in the right dose, it is both uplifting and entertaining.
Director: Mike White
Stars: Ben Shiller, Jenna Fischer, Austin Abrams
CineMuseFilms 
I am usually happy with Stiller’s performances even when many find him flat or different than his silly side.
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I cant say I have been a keen fan of Stiller, but I enjoyed his performance here. It fills an edgy space between a mid-life goofball and a serious soul struggling with existential angst. Showing my age I guess.
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I watched this film recently on DVD, not knowing what to expect. Just quietly, this is usually the best way. As it happens, I was very taken with his ‘film-long interior monologue’.
A great pity he did not see the forest for the trees and by this I mean he did not value the presence and quality of his lovely, supportive wife who ‘was satisfied with so little’! He should be so lucky!
Perhaps the inevitable result of constantly comparing his own quiet achievements with those of his peers, he devalued his life and his immediate family. The came to a satisfying conclusion as we knew it would.
Your score of 3.5 stars is appropriate as it was not a big film with life changing insights, but well done nonetheless. Better than average was my judgement also. Thanks.
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For me, its main impact was the sharing of a very simple existential reality that we all, in some way, have encountered. That is, the tendency to compare outselves with others and find ourselves wanting.
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Yes, I think we could all empathise. His desire for his son to enter Harvard was motivated by an expectation of reflected glory and I think we’ve all been there. I didn’t judge him harshly at all.
In my opinion Stiller was very capable in this role.
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