Meet Bill (2007)
"Bill" (original title)

A guy fed up with his job and married to a cheating wife reluctantly mentors a rebellious teen.

Directors:

Bernie Goldmann, Melisa Wallack

Writer:

Melisa Wallack

Stars:

Aaron Eckhart, Jessica Alba, Elizabeth Banks

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Aaron Eckhart	...	Bill
Jessica Alba	...	Lucy
Elizabeth Banks	...	Jess
Logan Lerman	...	The Kid
Holmes Osborne	...	Mr. Jacoby
Todd Louiso	...	John Jr.
Timothy Olyphant	...	Chip Johnson
Reed Diamond	...	Paul
Kristen Wiig	...	Jane Whittman
Jason Sudeikis	...	Jim Whittman
Andy Zou	...	Donald Choo
Ana Lucasey	...	Sarah Sheldon
Constance Barron	...	Mrs. Jacoby
Conor O'Farrell	...	Principal
Julia Pace Mitchell	...	Dana

Storyline

Bill is unhappy: he has married a banker's daughter and has a dead end job at the bank; his wife Jess is tied to daddy's wallet; and, Bill is developing a gut from lack of exercise and constantly eating candy bars. He dreams of buying a donut franchise to be independent of Jess's dad. Bill is roped into a mentoring program at his old prep school, assigned a smart-mouthed kid who pops up when least expected. When Jess starts an affair with Chip, a local TV personality and vain Rob Lowe look-alike, it sends Bill, the kid, and a young sales clerk from a lingerie shop on a quest to win back Jess and get the donuts. What about self-respect?

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Plot Keywords:

franchise | lingerie | school | affair | bank | 

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Taglines:

A comedy about someone you know.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, some drug use and sex-related material

Details

Official Sites:

First Look Studios [us] Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

Spanish English

Release Date:

18 June 2008 (Iceland)

Also Known As:

Meet Bill

Filming Locations:

St. Albans, Missouri, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$35,201 (USA) (4 April 2008)

Gross:

$59,108 (USA) (11 April 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

GreeneStreet Films, Eclipse Catering

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the movie Bill's father in law's character is named John Jacobi. Jan Jacobi is the head of the MICDS middle school, where many of the Tate Academy scenes were shot.

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Goofs

In the scene where John Sr., John Jr and Bill are talking to the French people and John Jr is translating, he makes translation errors. "Son-in-law" is not "faux bil", it's "beau fils" (pronounced Bow Fee-s).

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Quotes

Bill: [sees him on the roof of the bank] What are you doing?
The Kid: [referring to the sign] I'm fixing your head!

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Connections

References 1 Night in Paris (2004)

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Soundtracks

"Sweet Sweet Tango"
Written and Performed by Jeff Rona

User Reviews

emotionally dishonest

sorry, this movie was written by disturbed people.

if someone tries to say 'what would these look like on you' to a lady at victoria's secret, he does not turn out to be some funny great kid. so don't try that line, please kids. for the love of god.

eckharts character makes all sorts of pointless, meaningless meandering philosophical points. thats fine but uhm. it's a mess. the guy is a mess, his life is a mess, his relationships are a mess, and this movie, as a result, is a mess.

however it is not a nice mess. it is the kind of mess where the dude who has rotting pizza in his refrigerator tries to make a joke about it. its not.. funny. funny is reality. this movie does not have a grasp on reality.

the last scene would in a different movie be some iconic moment like the end of the graduate. but instead.... you are thinking 'what the...', just like the kid character says.

there is also just a lot of 'weird stuff'. the whole thing where this 30 something guy hangs out with an 17 year old and his girlfriend and 'her friend' in a tent to cheat on his wife... potentially funny, potentially deep, potentially emotional. in this movie? its just a 'laugh' they had.

everything in this movie is a laugh. nothing takes itself seriously. but not in a fun way, in a sort of "uhmm.... OK... " way. the kid and the guy are basically two spoiled rotten brats. the relationship with the wife, .... is really strange,.... because they cheat on each other and ... its like... there is no emotional consequence.... i mean yeah the guy gets angry and goes and beats up the other guy. but when he is back with her.... ???? where is the core here?

instead we go off into some disturbing tangent where a mid-teenage kid is trying to get involved in the problems of an adult marriage that is breaking apart... this is just completely... weird... and inappropriate.... and while it had some funny moments, they don't seem to be related to the reality of the situation... which is that this situation is breaking all kinds of boundaries.. boundaries that exist for a reason.. a comedy might have talked about that... instead it just kind of laughs everything of and moves on to the next freakish act by these characters.

the end of the movie? eckhart wandering off into the sunset.... wow must be nice to have money to do that... and is his wife coming with him? or not? now, this movie is not all bad. the rant in the donut shop was almost classic in proportion. some of the ideas are funny. some of the lines are good. the actors are extremely good at making this very odd script into something watchable and even halfway believable. eckhart is great. even these really weird, weird weird shaving shots... i don't know,like i said, i think this director has something going on with his brain to spend 30 seconds out of the movie focused on eckhart shaving his body hair, its just kind of like 'huh?' but not believable enough for me. there is just no honesty present, about what would really happen if these folks behaved like this. i mean, comedy to me is rooted in honesty, not in fantasy.. this is more of a fantasy movie as far as i can tell.