Best Man Down starts with a wedding and ends with a funeral. Paths converge for newlyweds and a smart, but in danger teenage girl when the best man dies in Best Man Down. Best Man Down is a neat little movie that humanizes the worst in ourselves and asks us to dig a little deeper even while casting judgment and not condoning bad behavior. I wanted to see Best Man Down as soon as I saw the previews, and I am thrilled that I did watch it. Best Man Down reminds me of a Sunday night CBS Hallmark movie for the 21st century. Best Man Down was like a flipside movie version of Parenthood. Best Man Down is not a comedy, but an independent dramatic film with humorous moments
Best Man Down compares and contrasts how people are seen with who they really are. Weddings are the idealized front, an exercise in (self-)deception of how perfect life is whereas death makes you confront reality and magnifies any imperfections. Death forces us to deal with our shit. Like The Attack, Best Man Down tackles the idea of whether or not you can truly know someone and how death turns ordinary people into investigators of their loved ones’ past. Unlike The Attack, because Best Man Down is an American film, the movie still deceives/reassures itself into believing that it is possible to completely know and understand someone.
Best Man Down also asks people to confront whether or not they have a real, authentic relationship with someone or if it is just superficial. Best Man Down challenges men to have deeper relationships with their friends and their spouses instead of superficial relationships that don’t explore the truth of their lives. Best Man Down sadly shows that our best relationships are not with family or those who are supposed to be closest to us, but we get fully seen by those that we least expect to form bonds with. Best Man Down becomes a Good Samaritan parable about how each of us is always in danger, even if we fail to recognize that danger, and how each of us should intervene to save each other.
Many reviewers complain about the teenage girl’s predicament, but hey, isn’t there an opioid crisis? Best Man Down gives a nuanced portrait of her situation by not completely demonizing the addicts and gives enough backstory to make them sympathetic. Best Man Down depicts their behavior up to a line that implies the worst without showing it in a prurient way: the invasion of space, the casual proximity of partial nudity and violence. Best Man Down communicates the threat without explicitly wallowing in it. Frances O’Connor beautifully depicts the mother’s epiphany when she realizes her daughter’s exposure to this life is harmful. Best Man Down confronts the many faces of addiction and dealing with pain.
Best Man Down is not a perfect film. When they foolishly introduce the best man’s mother without explaining why she was not doing the legwork that the newlyweds were engaged in, it undercuts the premise of the movie. Still I am willing to sign a waiver because Best Man Down deals with death, financial desperation and unlikely, intergenerational friendships in a way that resonated with me. When Best Man Down ends, the problems are still there, but the characters see what the problems are and are willing to try and solve them together. I loved Best Man Down and heartily recommend it.