There is a certain freedom when you lose everything you ever cared about in life. It sounds insane, I know. But it simplifies the process of life. It means you can start from scratch... A clean slate if you will."Duane Hopwood" (David Schwimmer) first loses his sobriety, then his wife and two daughters, then his job, then his hope and comes dangerously close to losing his will to live. At the custody hearing, he tells the judge that he "needs a reason to stay".The only thing Duane doesn't lose is the unconditional love of his daughters and the loyalty of a very quirky group of friends.What is so skillful about this film is the way in which it balances our sympathy for Duane's tragic situation with our understanding that Duane is the cause of his own problems and the only one who can remedy them.The pivot, around which the film's emotional power revolves, is the quite magnificent transformation of David Schwimmer from the almost unshakable familiarity of his role as Ross on NBC's 'Friends' to this ever so sad and bedraggled ex-husband and father who is desperate to stop the sand slipping through his fingers. This is absolutely a career transforming role that, surprisingly to me, certifies that he has a very promising film career as a dramatic actor in front of him. If enough people see this film, he will be reaping the rewards with great parts for years to come.Janeane Garofalo also delivers in an atypical role. As Duane's estranged wife, she delicately balances the cold-hearted reality of wanting to move on with her life and the sympathetic understanding of someone who knows him better than anyone else. Her role could so easily have drifted into cynical and clichéd 'mean ex-wife' territory... but this film is too smart to go down that path.There are some truly fine performances from the supporting cast members. Judah Friedlander & Susan Lynch are both very good as Duane's new support system. Friedlander plays Anthony, an aspiring comedian who becomes Duane's roommate. Lynch is Duane's first girlfriend since getting divorced. Each of them change the pace of the film nicely and add depth and nuance to an already powerful story.I also want to point out the girls who play Duane's kids. So often I complain that bad performances from kids can ruin the believability of a film... However, Ramya Pratt & Rachel Covey are both splendid here.This film feels like a cross between "The Family Man" and "Leaving Las Vegas"... an odd combination indeed. But it works on so many levels. I laughed during this film. I shed tears in the final act. I cared about each and every character. It is a tremendously well written screenplay, and it is acted with precision.This is a small independent feature that really deserves a wide audience. Unfortunately, it will have trouble finding one because it doesn't have a huge publicity campaign behind it or 75 copies lining the shelves of DVD stores. I can only hope that word of mouth and positive reviews like mine will convince a few people to seek this film out. If they do, they will find a diamond in the rough and will be telling all their friends about it too.

Regarding Matt Mulhern's Duane Hopwood, I've read everything from "quietly brilliant" to "drably unfocused" -- and several insightful things in between. Me, I fall firmly with the former group: This is a mellow-yet-effective character study that exhibits some real poignancy and delivers a stunningly good performance by Friends star David Schwimmer. It's certainly not the flashiest or most exciting indie you'll ever see, but for what it is, Duane Hopwood is a winner.Schwimmer plays the titular character, an Atlantic City casino employee who seems to be in the formative stages of outright alcoholism. Duane's estranged wife (the also excellent Janeane Garofalo) is clearly doing all she can to focus on her ex's "good side," as the couple share two daughters -- and, despite his problems, Duane's always been a pretty good dad.But things boil over after Duane is arrested for drunk driving ... while his young daughter lies sleeping in the back seat of the car. Thus begins a herky-jerky, but decidedly downward, spiral for Duane, a guy who's smart enough to realize he's ruining his life -- but just not smart enough to avoid all the potholes.As an honest and realistic depiction of the ways in which alcoholism can strike any "normal Joe," Duane Hopwood works exceedingly well. Those expecting any sort of 'after-school special sentiment' or Public Service finger-wagging will be sorely disappointed in Hopwood's screenplay. There are no big emotional revelations or huge dramatic screaming matches -- but the flick packs a punch all the same. It works because of its everyman banality, and not despite it.For such a quiet and unassuming film, Duane Hopwood sure offers a lot of great little ingredients. The Atlantic City setting, for example, becomes a character unto itself, glitzy and interesting on the surface, but cold and isolated beneath. Judah Friedlander offers a colorfully entertaining supporting performance as Duane's on-again off-again buddy, a security guard who dreams of life as a comedian. And every 25 minutes or so, Mulhern and Schwimmer deliver a moment of true heart, sincerity, and intensity ... frankly, I think this is a better "alcoholism" flick than Leaving Las Vegas.It sure as hell is a lot more subtle, anyway

If Jennifer Aniston can do it, than fellow " Friend " David Schwimmer can do it. What am I talking about here? I am talking about having a fellow cast member of that departed NBC sitcom appear in an indie movie that shows that actor's range. While I'm not going to say that Duane Hopwood is as good as The Good Girl was for Aniston, it does show that Schwimmer can play a part other than Ross.Duane Hopwood (Schwimmer) is a mess of a man. He works the 3 AM to 12 PM shift as a pit boss for Caesars Palace in Atlantic City. He is divorced to Linda (Janeane Garofalo), who is also the mother of his two daughters, Mary (Ramya Pratt) and Kate (Rachel Covey.) He believes that he is down on his luck, but that is mainly because he doesn't realize that he is an alcoholic. One night, Duane was going home with 8-year-old Mary asleep in the back seat of his car, when a traffic cop friend of his, Bobby (Lenny Venito), pulls him over for weaving on the road doing 84 miles per hour in a parkway. Linda, who is not normally vindictive against Duane, takes him to court to take away his visitation rights. She is understandably frightened that he will do something stupid like this again. Through the advice of his lawyer, Steve (Steve Schirripa), Duane realizes that he needs to make some changes in his life, since he loves his daughters and he still loves his ex-wife. She herself has moved on though. She is dating a gym trainer named "Joggin'" Bob Flynn (John Krasinski), a younger guy who gets on Duane's nerves, especially when Bob tells Kate that she is overweight and needs to work out. Duane also decides to take in a roommate. He has Anthony (Judah Friedlander), a security guard at Caesars who aspires to be a stand-up comic someday, move in with him. Anthony wants to move out of his mother's house and live closer to work, and since Duane was convicted of a DWI and had his driver's license revoked (he has to ride a bicycle to get around), Anthony figures that it is a win-win situation. Even though Anthony can be a little annoying, Duane accepts his offer to move in. Duane and Anthony also find themselves invited to Thanksgiving dinner at the house of Duane's neighbors. Fred (Dick Cavett) and Wally (Bill Buell), Duane's possibly gay next-door neighbors, have seen how down Duane has been, and they just want to bring him some holiday spirit. Just when he has decided to clean up his act, Duane gets in more trouble. His nice boss, Carl (Jerry Grayson), has to reprimand him for an incident involving a gambler. Mr. Alonso (Brian Tarantina) is a gambler who was causing trouble in the casino. To calm him down, Duane gave him a few slot tokens, which he used on a slot machine, and won him a jackpot. Unfortunately, Alonso was playing on a machine that had been claimed by an old lady named Mrs. Fillipi (Irma St. Paule), and she in turn complained to Carl about it. Faced with losing his job, Duane becomes really hammered and interrupts Anthony's stand-up debut. Anthony had finally been given the opportunity to do his act when the previous casino comic, Aldo (Vincent Riviezzo), had gotten a waitress pregnant, and Anthony's boss, Rahmn (Jeffrey V. Thompson), needed a fill-in. In the end, Duane will have to accept the changes in his life and deal with it, whether it is going to AA meetings, trying to move on with his life with his new bartender girlfriend Gina (Susan Lynch), or making peace with Linda.Actor Matt Mulhern wrote and directed this movie. It is his second movie, following 1998's Walking to the Waterline . He is apparently trying to create a movie world for himself, a la Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse, because Duane as a character appeared in Walking (Duane was played by " Spin City " actor Alan Ruck.) Mulhern also played a down-on-his-luck alcoholic, but his character was a TV actor. I wish I had seen Walking to compare it to this movie, because I like when an enterprising filmmaker attempts to create a world for himself.Schwimmer did a fantastic job. I wish that this movie had gotten a little more buzz, because it really showed off his acting skills. I know that he has been in several movies so far, but most of them have been sub par. Garofalo also got to show off her talent. I have seen her do both comedy and drama, and this is just another example of her ever-growing acting ability.Duane Hopwood might be just the thing to bring Schwimmer out of the shadow of Ross. Now…what can we do about Matt LeBlanc?

I went to rent a movie the other day and I saw this movie. At first this looked like a really ordinary movie but I had seen David Schwimmer in friends and I wanted to see him act in a different role. This movie was shown in the sun dance festival and I think David shcwimmer has done justice to his role. This movie is for any person who is alive today. This is about your daily life and how you go about it. Everyone has problems and every one tackles with them each day. Duane hopwood has done the same thing here. He has shown his life as it passes by each day. He has shown love for his family. I personally enjoyed this movie. This movie is at a higher level and by that I mean it has got lot of emotions in it and you need to look at each frame by frame to see what I am saying. If you have loved some one or if you are facing any problem in your life or if you think your life is not going where you wanted it to go then watch this movie and you will come to realize that it is not only you but there are a lot of people who have the same problem. This movie is anyones life. I highly recommend this film to all film watchers.