3/5 For everything that's lovely is but a brief, dreamy, kind of delight. Yeats
  by C. CRADDOCK (Bakersfield)
Why did this movie even get green lighted? It has "vanity project" written all over it. Donal Lardner Ward directs and has the lead. He also wrote it, along with Tony Guma, who is also in it. Who is Donal Lardner Ward, anyway? It turns out that he is the Great-grandson of writer Ring Lardner; and the grand-nephew of Academy Award winning screenwriter and Hollywood Ten member Ring Lardner Jr. Donal's Father was co-founder of New York's Elaine's restaurant. He has about five other acting credits besides The Suburbans, but the only film I've heard of was The Royal Tenenbaums. He played a hotel clerk. Maybe his real life was like The Royal Tenenbaums, a family with a lot of nutty but talented characters.

For some reason, I am reminded of back when I was in Pencey, a prep school I had the misfortune of attending, and I was reading this book. The book I was reading was this book I took out of the library by mistake. They gave me the wrong book, and I didn't notice it till I got back to my room. They gave me Out of Africa, by Isak Dinesen. I thought it was going to stink, but it didn't. It was a very good book. I'm quite illiterate, but I read a lot. My favorite author is my brother D.B., and my next favorite is Ring Lardner. My brother gave me a book by Ring Lardner for my birthday, just before I went to Pencey. It had these very funny, crazy plays in it, and then it had this one story about a traffic cop that falls in love with this very cute girl that's always speeding. Only, he's married, the cop, so he can't marry her or anything. Then this girl gets killed, because she's always speeding. That story just about killed me.

What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though. I wouldn't mind calling this Isak Dinesen up. And Ring Lardner, except that D.B. told me he's dead. You take that book Of Human Bondage, by Somerset Maugham, though. I read it last summer. It's a pretty good book and all, but I wouldn't want to call Somerset Maugham up. I don't know. He just isn't the kind of a guy I'd want to call up, that's all. I'd rather call old Thomas Hardy up. I like that Eustacia Vye.

Ring Lardner, Donal Lardner Ward's Great-grandfather, was pals with F. Scott Fitzgerald, and he was published by Maxwell Perkins, who was F. Scott's editor. His first book, You Know Me Al, an epistolary novel, was written in the form of letters from Jack Keefe, a bush league ball player, to his friend Al back home. Originally published in the Saturday Evening Post as a series, Lardner thought so little of his writing that he didn't even keep copies. To publish them he had to get copies from the magazine. He thought of himself as a sports columnist whose work had little lasting value. He continued to think so even after serious people such as Virginia Woolf praised his book. He was in some respects the model for Abe North in Fitzgerald's last completed novel, Tender Is the Night. He influenced Ernest Hemmingway, who sometimes wrote articles for his high school newspaper under the pseudonym Ring Lardner, Jr.

Ringgold Wilmer Lardner's son, the real Ring Lardner, Jr., and Donal Lardner Ward's Grand-uncle, was a screenwriter who was blacklisted after WWII as one of the Hollywood Ten, screenwriters who were incarcerated for contempt of Congress after refusing to answer questions posed by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). He won two Academy Awards for his screenplays--one before (for Woman of the Year in 1942) and one after (for M*A*S*H in 1970) his imprisonment and blacklisting.

So now the story makes a little more sense, how this guy, Donal Lardner Ward, had the audacity to direct and star in The Suburbans. There is another interesting back story: it was the first script that Tony Guma wrote. Beginner's luck. He had taught High School for many years, and he just wrote a script, without ever even seeing what a script looked like. I can picture the two of them collaborating. They are scheming to see who gets to make out with Jennifer Love Hewitt. They flip a coin. They decide that Ward will get to make out with her, but he won't do anything, because he's married. Guma gets to be the rebound guy, but all the action happens off-screen.

The Suburbans is not very good, but Jennifer Love Hewitt, as Cate with a "C" is great as a young record executive who wants to revive the career of The Suburbans, a band she idolized back in the 80's. She is both smart and stupid -- smart about the music business, even though with regards to The Suburbans, she may be guided more by her heart than her head -- but she can't figure out how to use a coffee filter or make a cup of tea. There is a great little scene where The Suburbans meet the label: Cate, Speedo Silverberg (Jerry Stiller), and Jay Rose (Ben Stiller). Two generations of Stillers and a Love Hewitt. I really like Jennifer Love Hewitt in this. She is the best thing about it, in my opinion.

One thing I like about the script is that they have Cate with a "C" quoting William Butler Yeats, and they leave the quote in. That is something that Guma, the former High School English Teacher, probably slipped in there. Here is the sonnet that the quote is from:

Never give all the heart
by W. B. Yeats

Never give all the heart, for love
Will hardly seem worth thinking of
To passionate women if it seem
Certain, and they never dream
That it fades out from kiss to kiss;
For everything that's lovely is
But a brief, dreamy, kind delight.
O never give the heart outright,
For they, for all smooth lips can say,
Have given their hearts up to the play.
And who could play it well enough
If deaf and dumb and blind with love?
He that made this knows all the cost,
For he gave all his heart and lost.

The Suburbans is kind of like That Thing You Do, about a group of One Hit Wonders, only this one is about a group of One Hit Wonders from the 80's, making a comeback. It is more about mid life crisis and aging regrets.

-------------------------------
Mitch: Don't let Grace "Yoko" The Suburbans.
=========================================

And that is not exactly a winning strategy. Why dwell on the sour aftermath, why not just take the exhilarating roller coaster ride, and deal with all that mess in epilogue? Tom Hanks got that right at least.

Will Ferrell is in The Suburbans, but he doesn't play his usual perpetual adolescent. He plays a successful businessman who doesn't really want to make a comeback. The stock in his company is down 18% since The Suburbans' video aired on MTV. I still wonder why Ferrell, the Stillers, and Love Hewitt even agreed to do this project, but I figure that they just wanted to get better tables at Elaine's.

-----------------------------------
Danny: [after dropping a case of beer] I should've gotten light beer.
===========================================

Talladega Nights - The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (Unrated Widescreen Edition) (2006) .... Will Ferrell was Ricky Bobby
Anchorman - The Legend Of Ron Burgundy (Unrated Widescreen Edition) (2004) .... Will Ferrell was Ron Burgundy, Ben Stiller was Arturo Mendes and Jerry Stiller was (uncredited) Man in Bar
Old School (Widescreen Unrated Edition) (2003) .... Will Ferrell was Frank Ricard
Heartbreakers (2001) .... Jennifer Love Hewitt was Page Conners
The Royal Tenenbaums (The Criterion Collection) (2001) .... Ben Stiller was Chas Tenenbaum and Donal Lardner Ward was Hotel Clerk
Mystery Men (1999) .... Ben Stiller was Mr. Furious
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) .... Jennifer Love Hewitt was Julie James and Bridgette Wilson was Elsa Shivers
The Cable Guy (Full Screen) (1996) .... Ben Stiller was Sam Sweet / Stan Sweet
Reality Bites (1994) .... Ben Stiller was Michael Grates
Fresh Horses (1988) .... Ben Stiller was Tipton

--------------------------
Cate: For everything that's lovely is but a brief, dreamy, kind of delight. Yeats.
====================================

4/5 Surprisingly Funny and Entertaining
  by Todd and In Charge (Miami, FL)
I do agree with the other reviewers that there was a lot more that could have been done with the premise, but for my money this was a light, enjoyable romp through the music biz, with an amazingly beautiful JLoveH, a funny-as-always Will Ferrell, and a hilarious turn by the father/son Stiller team.

Still, the anchor in all of this is Amy Brenneman, who turns in a deft, mature performance that keeps the film rolling over the sometimes spotty script and direction. Let me say this, too -- by the end of the movie you will love the Suburbans' one-hit song.

3/5 Funy Pic
  by L. J. ASCENSION (Victoria, Australia)
Not to bad good for a laugh, and who would not want jennifer love hewitt chasing asfter them. my god. wow

4/5 Suprisingly Re-watchable
  by S. Holman (OC, California)
This is a fantastic bit of 'hang-over Sunday' cinema. The Suburbans is extremely re-watchable, due entirely to charismatic performances by Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, the underrated Craig Bierko, and even Jennifer Love Hewitt. This would have been a hit had the director not cast himself in the lead, but even he contributes a decent performance. This movie masters the art of combining goofy male performances with sexy, yet comically apt female performances by Amy Brenneman and Bridgette Wilson. Rent the Suburbans. It's one movie that will make you wonder why it was never a hit.

3/5 Ever wonder what happened to your favorite 80's band?
  by cookieman108 (Inside the jar...)
While not the biting satirical look at an attempt to revive a one hit wonder eighties band I was looking for, this movie did have its' moments.

Jennifer Love Hewitt plays Cate, a record company executive who comes up with the idea to revive an eighties one hit wonder pop group, The Suburbans, which basically imploded after suffering from the excesses that followed over night superstardom. This is met with reluctance from some of the members, but the more outspoken members drive what they see is a chance to see what they missed out on, believing that they can be successful. Donal Lardner Ward plays Danny, the quasi leader and lead guitarist who sees this as a sign relating his true path in life, especially since all of his post band ventures have failed. Tony Guma is Rory, the overweight balding drummer who sees this as an opportunity to cash in on the band to make some much needed money, as his poor financial decisions cost him all the money he made some twenty years prior of their one hit. Craig Beirko plays Mitch, the good looking lead singer who has never given up on being a rock star, and craves the fame they once had. Rounding out the band is the bass player Gil, played by Wil Farrell, who basically goes along with the rest of the guys, not really needing the money or fame, as he's finically secure, but doesn't want to let the guys down.

There were some funny moments in the movie, especially when old tensions and habits within the band begin to surface, but the humor is tempered with the relationship problems between Danny and Grace (Amy Brennemen). This tended to dilute the comedic elements and almost work against the overall humorous tone of the movie.

In one really, funny scene we see these middle-aged men try to recapture the look they once had, including hairstyles and wardrobe. Think Flock of Seagulls twenty years later and you'll get the picture.

I felt Will Farrell wasn't used as well as he could have been. He's extremely funny, and could have brought a lot more to the movie with a better part. Jennifer Love Hewitt certainly brightens up the movie, adding lots of eye candy, playing the driven record company executive with an ulterior motive for seeing The Suburbans reunite. I have to admit, I had a really hard time picturing Hewitt playing someone who remembers a band from 1981, especially when I check her bio and find out she was born in 1979.

The Suburbans started out on a strong note, but tended to trip on the subplots. A fun movie overall, but don't expect too much, and you won't be disappointed.

Look for appearances by Robert Loggia, Antonio "Huggy Bear" Fargas as a club owner, Ben Stiller and Jerry Stiller as record executives, Kurt Loder as himself, and Bridget Wilson as Rory's girlfriend.