Taglines: A romantic comedy… in recovery.
Excuse Me For Living is the story of Dan Topler (Pelphrey), a rich, smart, suicidal twenty-something who dropped out of medical school to pursue his own drug habit. Well provided for and a bit coddled, he refuses to grow up or get happy. After a suicide attempt on the George Washington Bridge lands him in an upscale rehabilitation clinic, Dr. Jacob Bernstein (Vaughn) takes him under his wing.
The doctor issues these commands: obey the no-drugs rules, and join the geriatric temple men’s group he leads-or face incarceration. Meanwhile, Dan’s prep school friends continue to lure Dan to bacchanals. Dan’s addiction and tired mind can’t resist the drugs, booze, and women, until he becomes smitten with Laura (Archer), Dr. Bernstein’s daughter.
Film Review for Excuse Me for Living
Director/screenwriter Ric Klass can be excused for living, but forgiving him for Excuse Me for Living is a rather harder proposition. This witlessly antic sex farce about a yuppie substance abuser coping with myriad personal issues during a stint in a rehab facility pretty much fails on every level, other than providing big-screen exposure for a passel of veteran older actors.
After Dan (Tom Pelphrey) fails in his attempt to throw himself off the George Washington Bridge, he winds up in an upscale clinic led by the no-nonsense Dr. Bernstein (Robert Vaughn, no doubt wishing he was still employed at U.N.C.L.E.). The doctor’s unorthodox brand of treatment involves forcing Dan to take part in group therapy sessions among older men at a local synagogue, which if nothing else provides Jerry Stiller the opportunity to deliver snappy one-liners with his trademark sardonic delivery.
The overabundance of poorly coordinated subplots includes Dan’s budding relationship with the sexually aggressive Laura (Melissa Archer), who turns out to be, you guessed, the doctor’s daughter. Meanwhile, Laura’s best friend Charlotte (Ewa Da Cruz) is having a relationship with an older college professor (James McCaffrey) who’s in Dan’s therapy group, and also happens to be the divorce lawyer handling Dan’s mother’s case against his philandering father (Wayne Knight). Feel free to stop reading and take notes.
The contrived proceedings might be more palatable if we cared the slightest bit about any of the characters, but other than Vaughn’s aggrieved doctor each one is more obnoxious than the next. This is particularly true of the callow, self-absorbed Dan, whose snarky demeanor is far more off-putting than charming. Pelphrey, frequently doffing his clothes, ably fulfills the role’s physical demands but is unable to provide the necessary charm.
Among the other performers popping up in the proceedings are Dick Cavett as a wisecracking priest and Christopher Lloyd, not exactly playing against type as the clinic’s looniest patient.
Excuse Me for Living
Directed by: Ric Klass
Starring: Tom Pelphrey, Christopher Lloyd, Robert Vaughn, Melissa Archer, Ewa Da Cruz, James McCaffrey, Wayne Knight, Jerry Stiller, Alysia Joy Powell, Tonja Walker, Dick Cavett, Kevin Brown
Screenplay by: Ric Klass
Production Design by: Kristen Adams
Cinematography by: Chase Bowman
Film Editing by: Scott Conrad
Costume Design by: David Tabbert
Set Decoration by:
Art Direction by: Eric Morrell
Music by: Robert Miller
Distributed by: Dada Films
Release Date: October 12, 2012
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