Don’t mess with a “Nobody”

 

By Jim Tortolano

Ever have a revenge fantasy? Anything from wanting to punch out the bully from fifth grade, or launching a devastating response to the fashion insults launched at you by Queen Bee mean girl your sophomore year in high school?

Such fantasies are a staple of professional entertainment and 3 a.m. insomnia. There are many reasons for their popularity, but the main one is this: they just feel so darn good.

“Nobody,” starring Bob Odenkirk (“Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul”) is especially tasty because it’s not some John Wayne or Arrrrrrnold character doing the beat-down on the baddies. Instead, it’s a Regular Joe; a “nobody,” if you will.

Hutch Mansell (Odenkirk) is a middle-age office drone underappreciated by his wife, son and the people who pick up the garbage in his neighborhood. He quietly submits to life’s indignities and then one night, two burglars break into his house.

That’s his chance to bring out some inner Rambo, but the golf club freezes in his hand and the perps get away.

That’s the backstory on why this latter-day Walter Mitty goes off on a vengeance ride that would make Wyatt Earp proud. As the casualties pile up and the blood soaks the carpet, it becomes obvious that maybe Hutch isn’t quite the meek worker bee he appears to be.

This is not great filmmaking; the violence becomes gratuitous and unrealistic quickly, and you can almost see Hutch winking at you as the battles – which he, of course, always wins – go more and more over the top.

But – for what it is – an emotional safety valve for any of us who ever felt (or feel now) that we are better than people take us to be, this is a solid, sometimes silly, exciting movie.

“Nobody” is rated R for tons of violence, profanity, violence and violence.