Kernel Rating (out of 5): 
MPAA Rating: PG-13 Length: 89 minutes
Age Appropriate For: 14+. The film begins with a main character’s bloody death, and includes drinking, prescription drug use, and a troubled teenager trying to find her way but being forced by her drug-dealing father figure to steal. Ultimately the film shakes out like a lot of indie dramedies, with a mish-mash of depressing elements (all that substance abuse) and supposedly invigorating things, like a message about living in the moment.
‘Best Man Down’ takes the route of most indie drama/comedy hybrids, with self-deprecating, bickering characters and some discussion about the fleetingness of life. But the film’s strange structure and inability to stick with a scene make it more disjointed than it needs to be.
By Roxana Hadadi
A character dies, and through his death, betters the lives of those around him. That’s not a new concept to any of us moviegoers, is it? And yet indie dramedy “Best Man Down” thinks it’s giving us something utterly original with this premise, serving up both overdone sentimentality and cheap laughs. This is the kind of movie that has a character peek at a corpse’s nude body, but praise his humanity later on. Consistency, you say? No, there’s none of that in “Best Man Down.”
