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Cast: Bobby Cannavale, Danielle Panabaker, June Diane Raphael, Lily Rabe, Josh Charles
Weakness follows the life of high school teacher Joshua Polansky (Bobby Cannavale), whose world is crumbling around him: his wife, Elizabeth (June Diane Raphael), wants to start swinging; his mother, Lenore (Phyllis Somerville), thinks she has terminal cancer; and his autistic brother, Pete (Keith Nobbs), who resides at an assisted living home, only connects outside of himself through baseball, games or an occasional burst of anger. At school, things get complicated as a love triangle of sorts develops between Joshua and his teaching colleagues, the wise-cracking Bart (Josh Charles), and idealist Katharine (Lily Rabe), who only has eyes for the married Joshua. When Elizabeth leaves him, Joshua retreats from his adult life and responsibilities and begins dating Danielle, (Danielle Panabaker), a former student who has postponed attending college. Joshua’s subsequent regression and indecision fail to mask his anger and hurt, leading to a series of events that force him to reconsider not only his decisions, but the subtle and profound ways that people affect one another.
You might think Joshua has a good life, he has a teaching job he seems to love and a beautiful wife waiting for him at home but as we quickly find out his life is about to be turned upside down. It's starts off with his mom being diagnosed with cancer, then he fails miserably at a swingers night at his house. It seems his wife has become bored with the marriage and is looking to spice things up but we later learn a bit more about her inabilities to keep her marriage vows. As if these weren't enough to deal with Joshua must now take on the responsibility of taking care of his autistic brother, Pete. All these things lead to a melt down of sorts once his wife leaves him he begins to have an affair with an ex-student of his plus a little love triangle develops between him and two other teachers at his school but it ultimately doesn't lead to anything.
A story about a man whose confusion and frustrations lead to some bad choices as he attempts to some how make sense of everything that has happened to him so he just seems to be ignoring the problems at hand in hopes that things will get better on their own.
"Weakness" is a drama at heart with some life lessons included but it also has some lighter, more comedic moments in it as well. As a drama it's a very effective film that might hit home for a lot of people out there who might be having similar problems in their lives, it's characters and situations are very real and it's those situations that create the bond the audience has with Joshua, he's easy to feel for and a likable guy despite his downfalls. The humor in the film helps in lightening the mood and it keeps the film from being a total downer, it also provides some very funny moments at times.
The cast here did a terrific job including Bobby Cannavale who plays Joshua. Mostly known for his numerous character roles in comedies Bobby displays his ability to lead a cast here and he does it with ease. The rest of the cast were just as impressive including, Danielle Panabaker(The Crazies, Friday the 13th), June Diane Raphael(Going the Distance, Bride Wars), Lily Rabe(All Good Things, No Reservations) and Josh Charles(“The Good Wife”, S.W.A.T., Four Brothers). "Weakness" is an entertaining "dramedy" that tells us that things happen in life and it's up to us follow the course and make the right decisions, A thought-provoking, at times funny film that succeeds by having a talented cast and a well-told story from a very talented filmmaker. I highly recommend picking this little gem up. The DVD comes with Special Features that include:
Photo Gallery
Trailer
You can order the DVD HERE.
Released by Osiris Entertainment
**** Out Of *****