DailyView: Day 312, Movie 442

This one is a tough one. I remember seeing trailers for this movie, 99 Homes starring Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon, when the film was in theaters, and I was looking forward to seeing it. However, it never came to any of the theaters that were in my area and it slipped into the abyss. I found it on a list of underrated films and I then rented it from Vudu.

The film is a difficult watch, and really takes the character played by Andrew Garfield and puts him through the wringer. Garfield, who had a fantastic 2021 being named the EYG Star of the Year, earning an Oscar nomination and appearing in the biggest film of the year, has been able to show how amazing he is as an actor, and he brought all of his skills to this morally grey film.

Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield) was a struggling construction worker who lived at home with his mom (Laura Dern) and his son Connor (Noah Lomax). They were set to be evicted from their home by the sheriff’s department and real estate operator Rick Carver (Michael Shannon). Carver was detached and cold as the eviction was taking place, with Dennis taking his family to live at a motel.

Dennis discovered some of his tools had been stolen, so he went to Carver’s place of business and confronted the movers who he believed had taken them. Carver was impressed with Dennis’s manner and he offered him a job. Soon, Dennis had become Carver’s assistant and was doing evictions along with him.

Andrew Garfield is sensational in this movie as Dennis slowly loses himself as the money and the success rolls in. He started everything with the noble attempt to regain his family home, but as the money increased, Dennis found himself doing things that he did not expect.

Michael Shannon was excellent as he always is. There was a predatory nature to the character of Rick Carver that Shannon played expertly. His emotionless manner showed him to be a shark of a man who was doing actions that were borderline criminal and he pulled Dennis into the world along with him.

It was tough to watch Dennis succumb to the darker aspects of himself as he became more like Carver with every eviction. Dennis knew what he was doing was sketchy, at least, since he did not tell his mom what exactly he had been doing. When she found out, sparks really began to fly.

99 Homes was tense and full of anxiousness. The performances were tremendous and the story really focused on how easy it was to take advantage of the differing classes in American society. This is a film all home owners should see.