The film's main character, Jake Gordon, his family's alcoholic black sheep, is out on parole from jail. He is making an attempt turn his life around by gaining control of the family's struggling furniture business after the death of his identical twin brother. Unfortunately, because of his past, his father has forever barred him from the family's store, and his sister-in-law has trouble opening up to him. Eventually, Jake manages to gain some business for the family after a customer mistakes him for his brother. However, the order is difficult to fill, and Jake has lied about the potential of the business to come through with the merchandise.
The lost sibling angle gives the film, the expected "can I ever fill his shoes," angst one sees in any films dealing with one's loss of a more successful relative. It was unclear if I was supposed to feel sympathy, empathy or loathing for the characters (Jake Gordon, his sister-in law, father and nephew). This film would have been better if there were less moral ambiguity. Mild anti-Semitism permeates the entire work.
While Scott Cohen is not a bad actor, this role is so emotionally charged that any decent actor could have pulled it off successfully. In the end, this film has nothing original to say. The writers seem to be Arthur Miller wannabes but don't succeed. Where are Willy Loman and Biff now that we really need them?
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