Ordinary World (2016) on Netflix
Perry Miller, a former punk singer, has settled into suburban family life. When his 40th birthday seems forgotten, he books a hotel suite and invites his old bandmates to a party.
- Netflix2.6/5
- IMDb5.5/103,470 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes47%
Trailer
Plot summary
Perry Miller once sang lead in a punk band. Now he lives in the suburbs with his wife Karen, their daughter Salome and a newborn, and works at the family hardware store, which his younger brother Jake runs. On the day of Salome's talent show, no one at home mentions that it is also his 40th birthday. When Jake hears of it, he gives Perry the day off and $1000 and urges him to let loose. Perry books the presidential suite at a hotel for a reunion party and runs into Christy, an old girlfriend. He invites his former bandmates Gary, Johnny and Pete. Karen reminds him that her parents are arriving at the house, and at home the in-laws tell him he lacks ambition.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Ordinary World (2016)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Lee Kirk first asked Billie Joe Armstrong to write a song about the past and reconciling, for a scene where his character sang; after Armstrong wrote it, Kirk changed the brief to family and simplicity, and that song, "Ordinary World", became the closing track of Green Day's album Revolution Radio (2016).
- For one scene in Ordinary World, Billie Joe Armstrong smashed eight guitars over the various takes it took, as director Lee Kirk recalled.
- Billie Joe Armstrong insisted the music in Ordinary World be performed live rather than lip-synched, which led to Fred Armisen, Lucas Papelias and Kevin Corrigan being cast as his bandmates for their ability to play instruments.
- Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong got the lead in Ordinary World after his talent agent connected him with writer-director Lee Kirk, and the two spent nine months workshopping the film, rehearsing and rewriting scenes.
- Lee Kirk rewrote the character played by Judy Greer from a prostitute to a former girlfriend after Billie Joe Armstrong suggested it, and ran lines through Armstrong to give them a rock-and-roll vernacular.
