Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Ben Selleck (played by James Brolin) is the owner of a struggling used car lot. His sales force consists of a bunch of mostly incompetent people, so it’s no surprise that they can’t move any of the cars. Without any cash coming in, Selleck is in danger of losing the business that has been in his family for 40 years. Instead of buying the best seo software and trying to sell cars via his website, he opts to call in a team of mercenary salesmen led by the legendary Don Ready (Jeremy Piven).
Ready and his crew — Jibby (Ving Rhames), Babs (Kathryn Hahn), and Brent (David Koechner) — descend on the scene and immediately put together a plan to sell all 140 cars over the 4th of July weekend. The plan includes such gimmicks as a DJ, free hot dogs, a giant inflatable gorilla, and high price markups so the salesmen can pretend to offer good deals for the customers.
As the film progresses, the viewer learns a bit more about Ready’s past, including the tragic skydiving death of a friend and fellow salesman that still haunts him to this day. In fact, things become so overwhelming that Don leaves in the middle of the 4th of July sale, essentially taking away all hope of saving the Selleck business. He realizes he must come to terms with his past and stop blaming himself for McDermott’s death so he can move on with his life.
Fortunately, the rest of Don’s team is able to rally the troops. Apparently everyone learned just enough from Don about selling that they’re able to move all the inventory and triumph over the evil Stu Harding (Alan Thicke). Don returns in time to sell the last car to seal the victory for the good guys.
My Reaction: Going in, I understood that The Goods was supposed to be a comedy along the lines of Walk Hard or Talladega Nights, so I wasn’t expecting anything intelligent. But this film was pretty bad, even when set against low expectations.
I love Jeremy Piven on Entourage, but he proved here that he’s simply not a big enough presence to carry an entire movie on his own. He was annoying and cheesy as Don Ready. I get that the cheesy part was probably intended, but it just wasn’t funny at all. From that ridiculous smoking scene on the airplane straight through to the end, I don’t recall a single LOL moment involving him.
The supporting cast wasn’t any better, and well, I’m sure you know how dumb the storylines are for these types of movies, so don’t look to the plot for relief. Not even the Will Ferrell cameo could save this disaster.
Overall, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard was a huge waste of time. It was train-wreck bad — you know you shouldn’t watch, but you can’t help it — and utterly cringe-worthy in some places. Avoid this one at all costs. I give it 1 star out of 5.
What kid growing up in the early 1990s didn’t like Saved by the Bell? I was in junior high at the time, and this show was groundbreaking because it aired on Saturday mornings, which had previously been dominated by cartoons. And despite the extremely cheesy acting, the terrible laugh-track, and the cliché storylines, Saved by the Bell quickly became a favorite of ‘tweens everywhere.
House 6×16 — “Black Hole”: Sigh, this was another boring episode. It really feels as though a lot of what we see on screen from week to week is simply a retread of things the characters have said and done before. I’m kind of tired of the House-Wilson roommate dynamic because it’s just so boring. Oh, look! They’re like a gay couple! Only they’re straight! Or maybe they do have feelings for each other! Or they’re just best friends who can acknowledge a more sensitive side! What’s next, sitting on the bed trading tips about the 
Lost 6×08 — “Recon”: Same ol’, same ol’ for me this week. Liked the alt. universe stuff, but can’t understand why the writers aren’t kicking the series wrap-up into gear. More new characters? What in god’s name for??? Just deal with the people we already know and give us the answers we’re tuning in for! Also I can’t believe I’m in the minority of people who think the “smoke monster” is the most ridiculous contrivance on this show. Wow, people actually think that thing is interesting???
I’ve been hearing a lot about Slingbox media tuners in the past few months, and am intrigued by how they work. I guess if you have one of these things you can “placeshift” your media consumption by streaming feeds from your home television to your laptop or cell phone. That would be awesome for times when I’m on the road during a football game or a hockey game that I really want to watch! But would a Slingbox be easy enough for me to set up? Is it affordable?
24 8×12 — 3am – 4am: Wow, that was actually a pretty good episode! What’s that make, two in a row now? I’m telling you, when 24 is good, there are few shows on television that deliver better action sequences. I was sitting on the edge of my seat during the whole time Kayla was making her escape. I really thought Tarin had a genuine change of heart when he decided to help her. The fact that it was all part of a ruse to take out CTU was an awesome twist! Yes, I know taking out CTU isn’t an original idea, but it was completely unexpected at this point.
I’m a recent convert to the exceptional quality of Blu-ray discs. Ever since we got our PS3 a few months ago and watched a Blu-ray movie on it, I’ve been wanting to rent or buy that format exclusively. The problem, of course, is that the better quality costs extra money — often two or three times more than the same film on DVD. 
I’ve been watching Season 1 of The Mentalist off and on for the past couple months, and I’ve finally finished all the DVDs! I didn’t think the pilot was particularly great, but I kept plugging along and ended up really getting into the characters and their dynamic. The cases are pretty much like any other procedural out there (in other words, nothing special), so it’s the characters that kept me coming back.
We’re trying to turn our basement into an entertainment/media center, but the process has been pretty slow-going — mostly because of financial challenges. Nevertheless, we’re still moving forward and purchasing furnishings and equipment whenever we can, which is why I keep scoping out the deals at places like Buy.com. When I saw this 
It’s been awhile since I’ve watched any of my X-Files DVDs, so I was feeling a bit nostalgic for them today. I’m not sure why… possibly because I was noticing how few TV couples I’m rooting for these days. I remember back when I first started watching The X-Files, I thought Mulder and Scully were the perfect for each other. I watched more for their interactions than for the cases. They had such amazing, understated chemistry that it was hard not to imagine them as a couple.
Castle 2×16 — “The Mistress Always Spanks Twice”: I thought this episode was ok, but maybe a little to cutesy for my taste. I usually look forward to the Castle/Beckett banter, but this time around it felt pretty forced — probably because the subject matter made the jokes far too easy/predictable. I have to admit that I didn’t see the roommate twist coming, though I probably should have. After all, the episode title usually doesn’t give away the answer, so by that “logic” alone it couldn’t have been the dominatrix! Loved Ryan and his girlfriend, especially because we got to see what Ryan really thinks of the crew when they’re not jokingly putting each other down. Aww!
Criminal Minds 5×17 — “A Solitary Man”: I didn’t like this episode very much. The unsub and his motive were uninteresting to me, and there wasn’t much of an investigation either. I did enjoy seeing Gabrielle Carteris in her guest star appearance. In particular, I loved her shout-out to 90210, when she said to her daughter (on the show), “I was in high school once too, ya know.” The daughter’s response? “Yeah, like 50 years ago!” Ouch.