Doug Varney (Sam Rockwell) is a reserved small town pharmacist. Despite taking over his father-in-law Walter Bishop's store, Walter decides to install a Bishop's Pharmacy sign. He's a pushover for everyone including his competitive cycling wife Kara (Michelle Monaghan). His son Ethan has issues and Kara enables him. Doug starts an affair with Elizabeth Roberts (Olivia Wilde). She's the unhappy trophy wife to Jack Roberts (Ray Liotta). They start getting high on Doug's own supply and planning Jack's murder.
Narration is sometimes problematic. The Jane Fonda narration is not only unnecessary. It is wholly distracting. I wonder if the filmmakers felt a lack of energy and decided to inject the narration to fill out the blank spaces. It sets up a bunch of pathetic malcontents and takes forever to get going. I don't feel it when Doug and Elizabeth get together. Sam Rockwell is miscast and he only shows his true colors when Doug livens up. The early Doug is a fake and it feels like it. It's also noticeable that Ray Liotta is missing for most of the movie. Elizabeth can bad-mouth him as he's shown in a bad light early in the movie. The first half is flat. The movie simply doesn't work.
Better Living Through Chemistry
2014
Comedy / Drama
Better Living Through Chemistry
2014
Comedy / Drama
Keywords: dark comedypharmacisttrophy wife
Plot summary
Despite liking and being good in his profession as a pharmacist, Doug Varney has an unsatisfying life. He has long worked at Bishop's, the only pharmacy in the small town of Woodbury. The pharmacy is owned by his controlling father-in-law Walter Bishop. Even when Doug "inherits" the pharmacy, Walter makes it clear that he is still the figurehead by not letting Doug change the name to Varney's. With Walter still as that figurehead, the staff at the pharmacy run roughshod over Doug. Doug's wife Kara is equally as controlling. She is an ultra-competitive competitive road cyclist, she having won not only the women's division but overall the Tour de Woodbury six years running. She takes control of the household, including all the decisions concerning the raising of their now twelve year old son, Ethan. Her permissiveness in those decisions has resulted in Ethan acting out, which she in turn attributes to Doug not manning-up in being a suitable role model for Ethan. Things in Doug's life have the potential to change when he meets beautiful Elizabeth Roberts, new to Woodbury and to Bishop's. Elizabeth is in an equally unsatisfying marriage to her older husband, Jack Roberts. She believes he sees her only as a trophy wife, who he will probably dump when she gets to be too old. Despite not being a match on the surface, Doug and Elizabeth bond over their mutually unhappy lives. They begin an affair, with Elizabeth showing him how to make his life more fulfilling, including using his access to and knowledge of drugs for their own personal benefit. With Doug becoming a new man, he has to decide if he will take it to the next logical step by making him and Elizabeth a permanent thing, which if they have any chance for a comfortable life means killing Jack so that they can live off of his money. In addition to other things going on because of these changes, two items that may factor into Doug's decision are the fact that DEA agent Andrew Carp is doing a routine inspection of the pharmacy due to the fact that it has changed hands, and when Doug eventually meets Jack in the flesh...
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
flat black comedy
BACK IN THE NEW YORK GROOVE
In a small idyllic town, the village pharmacist knows everyone's secrets. Doug Varney (Sam Rockwell) has a fitness compulsive wife (Michelle Monaghan) an unruly child (Harrison Holzer) and an irritating narrator (Jane Fonda). Stuck in a rut he meets rich wife Elizabeth (Olivia Wilde) who breaks Doug out and instills confidence in him through an affair and pills.
The film reminded me of a generic Magnolia indie. Let's throw together some quirky characters, get a couple of names, create an unlikely scenario, toss in a few cliches, an appropriate sound track and stir. There was nothing overly entertaining in the film, yet at the same time I wasn't bored waiting for something to happen. For those who can't get enough of the clever and quirky indies, you might get a quick fix from this film.
Parental Guide: F-bomb. Sex.
Starting up
If you never start, you'll never finish. Makes sense, also if you don't break out, you'll stay imprisoned. Both those things do apply to our main hero here (played with much gusto by Sam Rockwell, whose presence alone elevates any and every movie). You also get Olivia Wilde who takes her last name literally ... well her character does.
For a "small" movie that is quite an impressive cast that assembles here and it does show on screen. There are a few things that might feel a bit cliché, but that can be attributed to once cynicism or the fact that one has watched too many movies (I'm mainly talking about myself here). But even through all this the movie has heart and does keep you guessing and rooting for the main (naive) guy ... Sam Rockwell can do that to you (the character he's playing).