Brad's Status

2017 • 101 minutes

About this movie

A trip to Boston with his college-bound son triggers a crisis of confidence for Brad Sloan as he reassesses his own life choices in a bittersweet comedy from writer and director Mike White. Brad has a satisfying career and a comfortable life in suburban Sacramento where he lives with his sweet-natured wife, Melanie (Jenna Fischer), and their musical prodigy son, Troy (Austin Abrams), but it’s not quite what he imagined during his college glory days. Showing Troy around Boston, where Brad went to university, he can’t help comparing his life with those of his four best college friends: a Hollywood bigshot (White), a hedge-fund founder (Luke Wilson), a tech entrepreneur (Jemaine Clement), and a political pundit and bestselling author (Michael Sheen). As he imagines their wealthy, glamorous lives, he wonders if cozy middle-class domesticity is the best he will ever achieve. But when circumstances force him to reconnect with his former friends, Brad begins to question whether he has really failed or if, in some essential ways, their lives are more flawed than they appear.

Ratings and reviews

Do not take the rotten tomatoes score as a barometer for this movie. It really was one of the most depressing and sluggish movies I have seen. The character "Brad" is clearly suffering from a late mid life crisis and it does not make for entertaining viewing. Brad's Status? No, more like Brad's Diary of Depression.

I honestly cannot understand the low ratings from some of these people! I, my partner and her mother thought it was a great movie. Very realistic storytelling and the acting was great too. We could all relate to some of the things Ben Stiller's character 'Brad' was going through. Has some funny scenes too to change the pace and keep you engaged. We highly recommend it!

Incredibly slow storyline, and depressing plot. I stopped watching it 3 times as it was dragging on and took a lot of effort to watch.