Review: Brad's Status

A heartfelt and piercing portrait of a white and privileged middle-aged malcontent, writer-director Mike White's Brad's Status also features another career-best performance from Ben Stiller (following on the heels of Noah Baumbach's The Meyerowitz Stories) as the titular character.

"Be happy. Be present," Brad's wife Melanie (Jenna Fischer) urges him as she sees him and their teenage son Troy (Austin Abrams) off at the airport as they leave to begin a tour of East Coast colleges. Indeed, Brad spends most of his time conducting an internal conversation with himself. Though living an upper-middle-class life in Sacramento with his wife and musically gifted son, he can't shake off the feeling that life is somehow against him, especially when he compares his life to those of his college friends.

There's Nick Pascale (White), a Hollywood director successful enough for his home to be featured on the cover of Architectural Digest and whose recent wedding to his boyfriend Brad wasn't aware of because he wasn't invited. Billy Wearsiter (Jemaine Clement) sold his tech company, retired at 40, and is living a life of leisure in Maui. Jason Hatfield (Luke Wilson) has a hedge fund, owns three houses, is a philanthropist, and travels around the world in his private jet. Craig Fisher (Michael Sheen), meanwhile, works for the White House, writes best-selling novels, and is a popular political talking head. Craig probably flies private as well, Brad thinks: "Must be nice to always have the seas part for you. Nothing's out of reach. Everything an option. Always feeling important, special, better than."

Brad places some blame on Melanie's lap for the way his life has turned out. Maybe if she wasn't so easily satisfied with her lot in life, maybe her contentment undermined his ambition. Yet even as part of him knows that no one else but him was responsible for the choices he made, he still feels that all he has is not enough and his deep well of inadequacy is constantly filled by incidents such as not being able to get an upgrade on the flight he and his son are taking or getting a better table in the restaurant where he and Craig reunite. His jealousy even extends to his own son, whose failure he believes will highlight his own but whose success may do the same if his son lords it over him.

Of course, all of this is nothing but absolute perception on Brad's part. Nick, Billy, Jason, and Craig are mostly ever seen through his envy-fueled imaginings and, when he does make contact with them, he's surprised by the actual realities of their lives. Everyone has problems and Brad, though he may believe otherwise, is luckier than most. As Troy's college-aged friend Ananya (Shazi Raja) points out he may be moaning about being ignored at a dinner party, but there are people in the world who are grateful to simply have dinner. It's amazing that he's nearly 50 and still believes the world was made for him, she marvels as she calls him out on his "white privilege, male privilege, and first-world problems. I promise you, you have enough."

With Stiller rendering Brad's narcissistic insecurities painful, relatable, and repellent to witness, Brad's Status makes for a consistently riveting watch. White underlines Stiller's affecting performance with his sharp dialogue and unobtrusive direction, commenting on Brad's and, by extension, most white male liberals', self-sabotaging delusions with clarity and criticism without sacrificing humaneness.

Brad's Status

Directed by: Mike White

Written by: Mike White

Starring: Ben Stiller, Michael Sheen, Jenna Fischer, Luke Wilson, Austin Abrams, Jemaine Clement, Shazi Raja