Sometimes in life, you see something, watch something or read something exactly when you need it. Everything Must Go is one of those films.

Without going into detail, I’m currently going through a period of personal difficulty, one wrought with sadness, self doubt and inner strife.  However, I cannot say I’ve ever had as bad a day as Nick Halsey (Will Ferrell).  A (poorly) recovering alcoholic, he’s let go from his job, and comes home to discover his wife has left, has changed all the locks, and thrown all of his belongings on the lawn.  His life, as he knew it, is completely changed.  But he does not know where to go, he does not know how to deal. He’s left completely high and dry, and doesn’t know his next step.

After a run in with the law, and a conversation with his sponsor, Detective Frank Garcia (Michael Pena), Nick is left with but one solution.  Have a yard sale.

That’s the setup for Everything Must Go, a film based on a short story by Raymond Carver and written and directed by first timer Dan Rush. As a very big fan of Ferrell’s last attempt at dramatic acting, 2006’s sublime Stranger Than Fiction, I was very much looking forward to this film.  And while it does not disappoint in any way, Stranger Than Fiction this is not.

Ostensibly, both films are about a man finding true joy and purpose in his life.  But in Fiction, you have a man who never really had it, gaining it for the first time.  In Everything Must Go, the story is quite different.  Nick Halsey is a man who has left himself in a state of disrepair for years, and never truly hit bottom, and Ferrell plays it perfectly.  One of the reasons why I’ve always felt Ferrell was a great comedic actor is that he never lets the audience know he’s in on the joke. He’s always 100% in character, and the same holds true with his dramatic chops.  You believe the pain that Halsey feels, you believe the desperation, and more than anything you just hope he can pull himself back up…even if he’s not ready yet.

Ferrell is surrounded by a great, albeit small cast of supporting characters. The aforementioned Michael Pena plays his role to a T, being a completely believable support to Ferrell, even when his character takes a surprising turn.  Also aboard for this film are Christopher Jordan Wallace (The Notorious B.I.G.’s son!) who plays a neighborhood child that befriends Ferrell, and the always great Rebecca Hall, playing a pregnant wife waiting on her husband to join her in their new home, demonstrating why she’s become Hollywood’s go-to actress for a woman showing grace in times of turbulence.  Laura Dern makes a brief appearance as a High School friend of Ferrell’s, and surprisingly, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’s Glenn Howerton shows up as Ferrell’s boss, in a brief, but perfectly prickish role.

You’re not going to walk out of Everything Must Go feeling bright, shiny, or happy. But what you will walk away from it is the belief that people can truly come back from the worst, once they start believing in themselves.  The cuts may become deeper before they get the chance to scab, the bottom may suddenly find itself lower, but once you start climbing the hill back to a semblance of sanity, you can do anything.

Everything Must Go isn’t just a clever title, it’s a proper phrasing of the lesson the movie gives us.  If you will ever rise above the challenges life has presented before you, you must first leave them all behind.  Go see this one, even if it makes you more than a little sad.