The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard

The Goods is another of those comedies where a niche line of work (TV anchors, role models, NASCAR drivers) is merely a plot skeleton, and the film's success or failure hinges on its capacity to transcend this structure. However, The Goods is better than you'd expect, for a number of reasons. After playing various caustic, smug types, can you think of Jeremy Piven as anything other than a "car mercenary:" the guy you call if you're James Brolin and your family-run dealership needs to move cars, lest it fall into the hands of Alan Thicke's Mr. Potter-esque rival? Piven leads a surprisingly stellar cast that best recommends this relentlessly funny film that revels in left-field character twists. The Goods has crashed and burned in theatres, but keep it in mind: It's the next cult-DVD fad. –Hillary Titley