Plot: Benjamin (Max Burkholder) is about to face an intervention, as his father Ed (Bob Saget) is concerned about his drug use. Soon a colorful ensemble of relatives, friends, and others parade into Ed’s home to be part of this intervention, though no one seems to want to do much to help. Ed wants to give leadership of the event to Dr. Ed (Rob Corddry), as he is a nervous wreck and has no idea what he is doing, but Dr. Ed has no desire to take the reins. Meanwhile, other guests fall into one drama filled moment after another, even before Benjamin arrives. Once the guest of honor is finally present, an awkward and uncomfortable series of events unfolds that has everyone realizing perhaps they all need an intervention…

Entertainment Value: This dark comedy from Bob Saget has a fun, colorful cast involved, but is never able to build much momentum or move beyond the simple shock value of the material. The narrative is fine, an intervention populated with dysfunctional people implodes with drama, but little is done with the potential here, settling instead for one off attempts at edgy humor. A few of the side threads have some laughs, but most feel forced or just plain flat, with no consistent flow of humor, even with the cast trying to keep the movie alive. I love dark humor, but it needs to be funny and that isn’t often the case with Benjamin. A joke doesn’t land just because it deals with dark subject matter and that is a lesson this movie never seems to learn, hoping that shock value will distract from the lackluster script. I was surprised how slow the pace felt here as well, given the large ensemble cast and numerous threads of drama, but this one drags at times, even at under 90 minutes of run time. I just had little fun with Benjamin and even for fans of dark humor, it is hard to recommend.

I like the cast of this one, as it has some real talent involved and performers that normally excel in this kind of material. The ensemble is the best part of the movie to be sure, but this group struggles to make the script work and despite some valiant effort, that just doesn’t happen. Bob Saget has one of the central roles and also served as director and co-writer, so this is was his vision and while he is famous for being a dad, his work falls short here. I think by now we have all seen him play off his Danny Tanner past for shock laughs, but it feels worn thin by this point. He has some moments in Benjamin, but not enough and that’s a shame, as I do appreciate his humor in most of his projects. I also love the awkward, nervous energy of Mary Lynn Rajskub, but again, she is limited by the material in this case. I think she and Kevin Pollak handed in my favorite performances in this one, however. Again, the cast is fun to watch at times, but the script just doesn’t allow them to shine like they should. The cast here also includes Cheri Oteri, Dave Foley, and Rob Corddry.