99 Homes * * 1/2

This film has received high praise.  But I have to be honest, there were times when I was watching 99 Homes and it was reminding me of those silly reality programs like Operation Repo where we get to watch actors pretending to be in  a real life situation like having their car repossessed. But in the case of 99 Homes it was about folks having their home repossessed.

Maybe it was the actors being allowed to ad-lib for “naturalness”, or maybe it was the shaky hand-held cameras, but for me, half the time it came across as contrived: which means it was doing more of a disservice than a service to those who really did lose their homes in the bloody minded real estate situation that came out of the GFC and the collapse of the bankers in America in 2008.

Andrew Garfield plays the victim of a repossession. He loses his house and has no income.But he can do some handywork so he ends up working for the agency that repossessed his home.  Slowly he is given more and more responsibility until he ends up doing the same thing to others as what he had done to himself.

There are some good scenes and some impressive acting, especially from Michael Shannon as the unconscionable agent. But despite that I wasn’t as impressed with this well meaning film as I felt I am supposed to be.