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Diggers (2006) The process of finding something you were never looking for to begin with.

 A few months ago I watched the movie Diggers. Afterward it stuck in my mind like a song that would not leave. Spoilers here so don't read on if you like being spoiled. 


Do you have the feeling that an outfit of choice just doesn't work. Like you picked everything out and it looked good in the mirror, but as soon as you left the house you feel lop-sided. The shoes are the wrong color or your sweater is too bulky, something is amiss but you can't quite put your finger on it. You go about your day wondering, but you never know. Diggers is like that. Well that went straight to the point. No, really I didn't mean to to do that, but heres a more in depth perception of the mismatched outfit Diggers portrays. 

The movie starts off in a little town in Long Island. Small fisherman go out and dig for clams in 1976. Paul Rudd plays one of the main characters who seems aimless in his life, as he has no connection to his father and his sisters. He likes taking photographs, but doesn't have a dream of going anywhere with them. Your not watching Coyote Ugly where the waitress leaves the pizza shop to be a singer in the big apple like clockwork. Anyways most of the film reflects back on Paul's family, his friends, their trials. Problems are already in motion as corporate fisheries have bought parts of the area for fishing, limiting the diggers revenue. Paul Rudd doesn't seem to care much until the end and lightning strikes. Almost obliviously you realize Rudd suddenly has the motive to move on with his life. he does not seem to mind changing his path rather than sticking out being a digger like his father and his father's before him. In retrospect you wonder why he even stayed in the first place, if he never showed care at all. His story seems mundane to others, because the way hey finds the gumption to leave seems so futile. I love Paul Rudd as an actor and I think many of his movies are amazing, but in Diggers, your left wanting more, he's not as dramatic as you would assume or as funny as you would expect. 

Now on to the other characters. The stories that save this movie are the ones that really revolve around family. Although Rudd is the main, his friends enhance the movie through their relentless trials that push us over the edge of contentment. Ken Marino and Sarah Paulson play a married couple with too many children. Their constant battles with each other over money and Ken's drinking cause the audience to feel angry and sorry for them at the same time. The scene in which Sarah reveals she's pregnant again, is possibly the most pivotal scene in the whole movie. It's wrought with emotion that the rest of the film is lacking. Afterward Marino is forced with conclusion that digging will not support his growing family and forces himself to face the corporations in order to succeed. This endeavor does not end in success. Although by the end of the film your'e left with the understanding that through his hard work leaving his family's profession was the right choice. The rest of the cast does their best to follow along, but they don't do quite as much work as you would hope and their trials seem spare compared to the others. 

All in all I actually really liked this movie, yes I give it a lot of flack. However it stuck in my mind for months after watching so I cant say it was bad, far from it. It's got all the quarks of an indie flick. The rough edges of a film that could be better than it is. If it's supposed to be comedy it's alright, there are few funny bits and they bump along. Comedy that floats in out of normal day to day life events. The kind that you can see yourself doing or your friends. It's not Austin Powers or Dinner for Shmucks comedy. Its real life comedy. Filled with the trials of personal emotion and ritual laws we all have to follow to be seen as regular people. Maybe in the end, Diggers is just a movie about regular people. Figuring out how to maneuver an ever changing world. It seems like thats the case. One things for sure, digging won't get them there. 

Diggers (2006)  Meat and potatoes 48% salad 2% a dry white wine 30.5% water 20.3%, napkins .2% The Ridiculous behavior 7.9 

Fishing pole rating 🎣🎣🎣🎣🎣🎣 (6.8)

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