Trailer Trash: The Beaver

It's time to root through some trailers. What sorts of wonderful things will be alluded to today?

Soooooo... Mel Gibson. Crazy dude, right? Kind of a jerk, it would seem. It must suck to be Jodie Foster right now. Imagine this. You're trying to promote your new movie, in which you star and direct, and your male lead is making headlines for spewing phrases that would make the leaders of the Klan blush and squirm uncomfortably. I don't know about you, but I'd be a little distressed if that were the case. Wonder how Jodie's coping with it? Yeesh...

The Beaver is about a man, Walter Black, who finds himself in a mind numbing depression after being kicked out of his house by his wife and less than loving children. He can't pull himself out of it, until one day, when he finds a beaver in the form of a hand puppet in the garbage. He puts it on his hand, and, crazily enough, the beaver takes on a life of its own. Soon, Walter is living vicariously through this beaver, and all looks good, until the beaver starts to exert more control over his life. When his family tries to pull him back to them, Walter finds himself struggling to come back to reality.

Sooo... yeah. Mel Gibson. He's Walter, and, here's the crazy thing. People who have seen this movie say Gibson is fantastic in it. Like, it's a career best for him, and a serious Oscar contender, that is, if he weren't the intolerant douche bag he is in real life. Oscar doesn't want to give out it's main acting award to a jerk. It's shame, because if Gibson is, in fact, as good as this trailer makes him out to be, and as good as people are saying, then some award love would only be fitting. Jodie Foster and Anton Yelchin also show up as Walter's wife and son, respectively.

This trailer depresses the hell out of me. Those images of Walter lying on his bed, floating in his pool, or curled up on his couch are actually kinda heartbreaking. This looks like one of those movies. You know, a film that tugs at the heart strings and makes you empathize with the main character's plight in a very honest and realistic way. In other words, a damn good movie! The only problem? Mel! Fucking! Gibson! I doubt many people will be willing to give a film with him in it a shot. Well, bully for them. If the film is as good as the trailer makes it out to be, then they'll be missing out.