Disc Reviews

The Voices Review

• 14th Jul 2015

Jerry (Ryan Reynolds) is a recovering schizophrenic working on the factory floor, packing bathtubs. He is upbeat, fairly bright and enthusiastic about just about everything it seems. But sadly Jerry has not been taking is prescribed medicine and before you know it he is talking to his Cat and Dog at home, but they are also talking back (Also voiced by Reynolds).

Trying to find a way to make his life work – Jerry has his eye on Fiona (Gemma Arterton) at work. But then Lisa (Anna Kendrick) also has her eye on Jerry. And before he knows it – Jerry, with his increasingly bizarre behaviour is forced to make moves he doesn’t want to – and in the aftermath finds himself with only more voiced in his head (or is that heads with voices) to contend with at home.

Reynolds has been in need of a decent project to get him back in front of the public eye after the big budget disappointments of Green Lantern and R.I.P.D. Sure he has done a bit of voice work that has paid off, and played second fiddle to Denzel Washington in Safe House – but none of these have put his name hard pressed into people’s heads as his movie, or with performances that are memorable in what will hopefully be the longevity of his career.

The Voices works in that it is a very off-kilter performances and a real oddity of a movie. Reynolds shines in the role of the unstable Jerry, and the film works with him to show the bright side of life that Jerry sees, only for sudden cuts to reveal just actually how he is living.

The film fails due to the fact that the release is probably going to be so small that it will come and go from theatres. This then lends the question of whether people will chase after it on disc in the months to follow, and will it latch on to a cult audience – or will it be processed so fast by home entertainment that it again comes and goes and then is swallowed up by free viewing platforms such as Netflix.

Thanks to the leading man and a game supporting cast the film certainly has its charms. It probably should be more laugh out loud hilarious as opposed to consistently titter-worthy, but The Voices is certainly a film (like with Buried) that fans will remember above others.

Steven Hurst