Answers to Nothing (DVD Review)

25 Feb, 2012 By: Angelique Flores

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Street 2/28/12
Lionsgate
Drama
Box Office $0.02 million
$19.98 DVD
Rated ‘R’ for some strong sexual content, nudity, violence and language.
Stars Miranda Bailey, Julie Benz, Dane Cook, Zach Gilford, Elizabeth Mitchell, Eric Palladino, Vincent Ventresca, Aja Volkman, Barbara Hershey.

It’s hard for any movie with multiple intertwining story arcs to avoid comparison to Crash. And it’s hard for most movies to hold up to that Academy Award-winning film.

Answers to Nothing makes a skillful attempt, with a surprisingly effective dramatic performance from usual funnyman Dane Cook.

Cook stars as Ryan, a therapist who is going through difficult medical procedures to conceive a child with his wife, Kate (Elizabeth Mitchell). Ryan’s mother, Marilyn (Barbara Hershey), is in denial about her philandering husband, who has been living in France for nine years. Kate also is in denial about Ryan’s affair with a much younger woman, Tara (Aja Volkman), the frontwoman in a rock band.

One of Ryan’s patients, Allegra, admits to hating black people and is black herself. She begins dating Evan, a sound engineer who works with Tara.

Kate, an attorney, is working to help her client, recovering alcoholic Drew, keep her brain-dead brother in her care. 

Kate’s best friend, Frankie (Julie Benz), is a police officer investigating a case on a girl who just went missing. Her daughter’s teacher, Carter, is obsessed with video games, but more obsessed with the missing girl.

Intersecting all of it is Jerry, ostensibly a neighborhood police officer.

The film has a dark, dismal mood throughout, foreshadowing that someone probably is going to end up dead at the end. Unlike the title, the film does offer answers in the end; though not happy ones, they’re more true to life.

The film includes some great original songs and performances from the band Nico Vega, of which Volkman is the singer-songwriter.

The DVD includes a commentary with the director, writer, two producers and director of photography; deleted scenes; and videos from two of Volkman’s bands, Nico Vega and Egyptian.

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