Miserable Retail Slave

by RFP

It's not a big screen re-imaging of "Leave It to Beaver", but, since every other film released to the cinemas these days is a recycled bit of nostalgia, you're forgiven if you thought this.

Depending on how close to the gutter your mind skews, you may even think "The Beaver" is the latest hardcore porn that you should probably download from bittorrent.

What "The Beaver" actually is is crazy old Mel Gibson playing crazy old Walter Black who wears a beaver puppet on his hand.

Perhaps it's unfair to slap a label such as "crazy" onto a cinematic legend such as Gibson. Maybe all of the questionable behavior and unflattering publicity has stemmed from plain, old fashioned bad luck. Maybe Mel is just a victim of circumstance. Regardless, it's hard to watch "The Beaver" without your mind drawing parallels between the character's tenuous hold on sanity and Gibson's real-life struggles.

The story follows William Black (Mel Gibson), a broken shade of a man who suffers from a deep, unending depression and possibly numerous personality disorders. 

After a few botched suicide attempts, an old beaver puppet that Black had rescued from a trash can begins speaking to him in a thick Australian accent. He begins interacting with people exclusively through the puppet, telling everyone to address the beaver by name.

The Beaver's fun, outsized personality quickly replaces Black's depression and he finds that everyone seems to prefer the puppet's personality to his own. Now you know why Dave Coulier used Mr. Woodchuck in so many episodes of Full House.

Black experiences a renewed sense of creativity, resulting in explosive sales for his toy company. His family also embraces Black's new personality, with the exception of his jaded son, Porter (Anton Yelchin), who spends his time writing papers for money at school and trying to impress the brainy cheerleader (Jennifer Lawrence, who played young Mystique) who has hired him to write her valedictorian speech for graduation.

Since the Beaver has made his depression disappear overnight and everything seems to be coming up Milhouse in his life, Black decides that the puppet is not going away any time soon.

The extended period of a grown man using a beaver puppet to communicate slowly begins to wear on everyone and everything that has been gained by the Beaver starts to slip away from Black. 

The climax features the Beaver becoming a cult phenomenon, an appearance on the Today show, a Fight Club-esque battle, and a somewhat shocking, but somewhat predictable conclusion.

 The ridiculous premise of the film may be a turn off for some, but for others (like me) it's an interesting, off beat project featuring an actor who normally wouldn't tackle such subjects. I think a friendship with director Jodie Foster (who also plays William Black's wife) helped bring Gibson into the fold. 

For me, the movie works due to Gibson's great performance. He puts everything he has into this character, a role that alternates from goofy to intense at a moment's notice. The intensity and emotional range that the role requires reminds me of his performance in "Ransom".  The "B" plot in the movie concerning Anton Yelchin trying to woo Jennifer Lawrence really doesn't add anything to the main plot of the film. Yelchin, as always, does a great job investing himself in his character, while the upcoming star of The Hunger Games, Lawrence, is merely adequate.

I give "The Beaver" 3 out of 5 pink slips.

-RFP

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