( EW.com ) -- Will Ferrell , blithe impersonator of obtuse elves , TV anchormen , and former presidents , is not the first actor one thinks of to play Nick Halsey , an alcoholic wretch on a bender , in the sober indie drama `` Everything Must Go . '' On one rock-bottom day , Nick is fired from his sales job and his wife leaves him , having first changed the locks and piled all his possessions in their suburban front yard . The sight of indoor stuff splayed outdoors may be absurd . But there is nothing at all funny about the pathetic mess Nick continues to make of his life . And Ferrell , whose vaguely uncomprehending onscreen stare usually signals amusing male cluelessness to come , upends expectations from the very first scene , as Nick sits in his car , locked in a traffic standstill and palpably unable to endure the stress without a pull on his liquor flask . With characteristic physical fearlessness , the actor becomes a downward-spiraling alcoholic . No joke . It 's a terrific performance -- one that 's unmatched by the rest of the movie , written and directed by Dan Rush . Based on Raymond Carver 's notable short story `` Why Do n't You Dance ? , '' `` Everything Must Go '' is a sweetened-up , padded-out scenario of hope cracking through a drunk 's despair . Rush 's background as a director of commercials is evident in his feature-film debut : Everything and everyone look 10 degrees softer and more composed than they need to be . Carver 's original minimalist story goes down in two gulps : The drinking guy sells his stuff to a young couple passing by . The end . Rush 's adaptation skips the young couple , expands the yard sale , and adds a cop who 's Nick 's AA sponsor ( Michael Peña ) . EW.com : See all of this week 's reviews . There 's also : a lonely black kid who becomes Nick 's protégé ( Christopher Jordan Wallace ) ; an old high school classmate ( Laura Dern , in a fine , subtle , self-contained scene ) who assures Nick that he really does have a heart ; and a neighbor across the street ( Rebecca Hall ) who 's pregnant . Despite Nick 's worst , hurtful behavior toward her , she 's willing to extend a kind of forgiveness . Ferrell , for his part , looks like he would have no problem going even deeper and darker than Rush could bear . Like Bill Murray and Greg Kinnear before him , this funnyman reveals serious acting chops . EW.com rating : B -- . Release date : May 13 , 2011 . Rated : R. See the original article on EW.com . CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2010 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved .
Will Ferrell 's terrific performance not matched by director Dan Rush . Rush 's commercial background comes through in film . Sober indie drama follows alcoholic Nick Halsey 's spiral downwards .