For a tired night where I just wanted to be entertained, this movie was light-hearted and fun and had some good scenes. I actually agree with the other reviews saying that it didn't meld well--the way things played out was inconsistent to who Bill seemed to be. But I wasn't looking for melding, just for something to keep me interested and laughing and this did that. There was also a touch of sincerity to the whole of it that appealed to me.But. Oh the but. I was truly bothered by the story line of the role reversal between Bill and the kid.(Logan Lerman, who was exceptional in his role and really stole the show). I love kids, love encouraging them. love seeing them expand their minds and enjoy the zany aspect they can bring to life. But Lerman's character was so smooth, polished, jaded, slick. And Bill was mentoring him to a life of chronic disappointment when he grows up and his smart-alecky ways start to smack him in the face. Spoiled rich kid does not even BEGIN to describe him. He was living in a plastic world and that was adulated throughout the movie, which I think is just wrong. Of course, the movie wouldn't work without it, so in that sense I'd give it a 0 star.Lerman not only never has to face the consequences of his actions (opening scene Bill covers for him selling drugs in high school--he lies for a kid he doesn't even know.) but he is the cocky kingpin throughout the movie. I felt my stomach turn a couple of times when Lerman is sagely giving advice to BIll about how he should run his life (which is pretty much the basis for the movie). If you look at who Lerman's character is--a young, self-entered, quite narcissistic ne'er–do–well--for him to give advice is about as valuable as a McDonald's soda cup discarded on the side of the road. To me, there is just something terribly wrong in the staging of that. Not that Lerman gave the advice, that fits for a typically know-it-all teenager. There is no fault to the character he is, just that this one-dimensional, inexperienced character who gets by on money, looks and grins was given such high esteem for being wise in the movie. And given this while at the same time Lerman is constantly having to be covered for his indiscretions by the man he is giving advice to. There is a disconnect in that and it could be an undercurrent reason why many found this movie flat. A cocky kid who ends up mentoring the mentor doesn't sit well in the psyche. It comes across as false. It actually could have worked well if Bill was Lerman's own age.Then there is the total disregard for any standards--Bill lies for Lerman repeatedly, joins in his sexual soiree (again, it's the age factor that leads to the discomfort), and joins him in getting high: A sentimental, golden scene where Bill has completely aided the delinquency of a minor and drove him across town while completely stoned. You can get arrested in both Washington and Colorado for both of those--pot friendly as they now are.What partially redeems the plot (the film is redeemed by good acting) is that Lerman's character, narcissistic as it is, really does show generosity (with more than money, which has no value to him) and caring for Bill. And Lerman is such a superb actor that there is still a wisp of feeling that he looks up to Bill and seeks him to "please love me like the dad I apparently don't have." But then again. I was never completely won over that Lerman's actions weren't simply b/c he is like a mob-leader in self training and he just wanted to control Bill for his own personal pleasure (like buying the extra fire works). By the end there did seem to be genuine affection, but I"m not sure any of Lerman's actions were truly altruistic.Again, typical for a teen, so the character is true to form, but that still leaves the "let me be the leader, follow me" factor out of whack.

is this a male in marriage midlife crisis movie?is this a slapstick comedy?is this a teen sex flick?is this a tween fantasy movie?i do not know.but i do know it ain't funny because it's trying to be funny and comes across as just stupid. the story rambles on putting 'bill' in one goofy situation after another and then has a serious finish.not much else to be said about this attempt at comedy/drama/sex/slapstick/idiosyncrasy bomb of a film.forget it!

This movie is like someone standing on a beach watching a man drown 6 feet from shore where, instead of throwing the drowning man a life preserver, the sadistic watcher throws him a series of concrete blocks. Aaron Eckhart is the drowning man, desperately trying to save himself and this film, while the insipid script and lifeless direction of Meet Bill keep dragging him down.Bill (Aaron Eckhart) is less a character and more a collection of characteristics. He's got a pot belly and a bad haircut. He has his job only because he married his boss' daughter, even though his boss treats him more like an intern than an executive. He's got a gay brother and a serious candy addiction. I guess this mix of common and quirky traits is supposed to make the audience empathize and identify with Bill, but he's really just an annoying and self-pitying shmuck.Bill is unhappy with his life and dreams of trading in his job at his father-in-law's bank for running his own doughnut shop. Then, two things happen. First, Bill is roped into being a mentor to a high school kid (Logan Lerman). Second, Bill finds out his wife Jessica (Elizabeth Banks) is cheating on him.Let me digress for a moment. The high school kid in Bill doesn't have a name and is, in fact, listed in the credits only as "The Kid". If you ever write a screenplay, on behalf of everyone who might ever read it, I beg you to please, please, please give all of your characters actual names. You might think it's cute and clever to have one just be called "The Kid" or something, but it's not. It's stupid and aggravating. People, whether close friends or relative strangers, call each other by their names all the time and it's both very noticeable and irritating when a script goes out of its way to avoid that. I don't care if you think the character being nameless has some thematic significance. It's just dumb.Returning to the movie, Bill freaks out when he discovers Jessica is sleeping with a cheesy local news anchor. He beats the guy up and gets thrown in jail. Bill also moves out of his own huge house and into his gay brother's equally huge home. He hangs out with The Kid, who tries to help Bill loosen up and enjoy life. Bill also takes up swimming and keeps trying to finagle his way into owning that doughnut shop. There's also a sex tape, a big party where everything goes wrong and a pointless subplot where The Kid keeps hitting on this lingerie store clerk (Jessica Alba). Not that hitting on Jessica Alba is pointless, but it serves absolutely no purpose in the story.The things that happen in this movie either don't make sense or you don't care about them if they do. How does a dorky loser like Bill end up with a woman who looks like the incredibly appealing Elizabeth Banks? There's no explanation of what Jessica could have ever seen in him. Bill obviously gets paid a lot of money for very little work, has a huge house and a smokin' hot wife…and we're supposed to care that he's not satisfied with all that? When we find out Jessica is cheating on Bill, there's no emotional impact to it because if you were married to a pathetic non-entity like Bill, you'd probably cheat on him too. There's absolutely no reason or explanation for why The Kid makes such enormous efforts to attach himself to Bill and try and help him out, like an overexcited hybrid of Ferris Bueller and Jiminy Cricket, and The Kid is so theatrically irreverent that you just want Bill to smack him. The story also connects Bill's growth as a human being to him shaving off his body hair, which is just odd.This movie is completely uninvolving, even though Aaron Eckhart is working as hard in this film as I've ever seen any performer work in anything. He does everything but drop trou and show us his Little Eckhart to make us laugh or feel ANYTHING about Bill. All of his efforts, however, are smothered by the relentlessly limp work of these filmmakers.Unless you enjoy watching a drowning man being thrown cement blocks, there's nothing in Meet Bill for anyone to enjoy.

This is a great Saturday night film. It borders somewhere between comedy and dramedy in that the topic veers often towards the all-too-serious before falling back into the comical.Aaron Eckhart plays 'Bill'. Bill married the bank executive's daughter. Bill has it all but doesn't have much respect from his wife's family. His in-laws basically think of him as a peon. When Bill's wife cheats on him, things get a little rough. I have to give the writer and director kudos for not driving the film into the conventional 'another shot at life' take here i.e. character falls to the bottom, builds himself up by cutting off all ties.He does build himself back up, but the pacing is subtle, real, human. Life is life, right, and Bill manages to pull himself together without making big dramatic scenes (a la Jerry Maguire) or bringing us some touching, knee-jerk morals and last minute epiphanies. He stumbles, breaks down and when you figure he'll win the girl in the end, he just wins himself.The 'Kid' here is fun, Bill learns a lot from him but again, no morals, no 'kid knows best' B.S. here. The film dodges a few of the main clichés we see in most movies.I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It isn't meant to be serious and it could have been. The writing is fun, the directing is fun, the characters are fun. What's wrong with fun?