Pretty morose... granted, the script dealt with some dark stuff but the humor of the piece was really it's main thrust. Even when I first read it, I thought whoever directed this thing was in for a challenge since TONE will be critical in making it work on screen. Uneasy balance of humor and pathos n' all that.

Shame Frank Capra ain't with us anymore... he'd be my first choice with this material! :D

Awesome. Go, Killen, go.

@Jeff: You got that right. Hitting the tone is critical. Hard to tell from a trailer. But they're definitely framing it as a drama, not a dark comedy. Looks like all the subplots are intact. The father-son dynamic, which I thought could have been exploited a bit better in the script, looks to be front and center, at least from the trailer.

We'll see...

One would think the best comedy moments end up in the trailer…they usually do. My take on the movie was no matter how brilliant the script...what movie star would really do the comedy…and allow themselves to be upstaged by a puppet? We may have seen the answer. I’ll cross my fingers and arms the movie is as funny as it could be.

Why do they show Mel Gibson hugging the older son? That is one of the major conflicts of the whole movie that you never know how it's going to be resolved.

@DEV: Perhaps Foster decided to 'resolve' it. Or it's something they shot in case not resolving it didn't play well with test audiences. It may or may not be in the finished film.

I don't know. There is Mel Gibson, playing himself for a change, and the trailer lets him come across totally unconvincing.
The voice of the beaver is funny but the emotions of the characters seem to be so acted because it is all so ridiculous. Maybe a better actor than Gibson would pull that off. I'll give it a chance, of course but I'm not convinced, certainly by this trailer.

Audiences are going to be a little surprised when he

SPOILER WARNING



cuts his hand off. Is that still in the story? Because that is not what I'd expect out of the movie in that trailer.

He cuts his hand off? Cool. Now I'm intrigued.

Looks interesting. The important question is which hand does he cut off? :)

As far as the trailer... I'm completely uninterested in the movie. I thought this was a black comedy? Where are the laughs?