MovieChat Forums > 99 Homes (2015) Discussion > Entertaining Movie, But Laughable

Entertaining Movie, But Laughable

posted 8 years ago by marx686
4 replies | jump to latest

I enjoyed Michael Shannon and Andrew Garfield's performance in this movie. But its mostly science fiction. Real estate agents evicting homeowners? Making real estate loans? Cmon!
The writer took bits and pieces of the real estate crash and spliced them together in a mish mosh of bad things that happened.
Even in Florida, homeowners get plenty of fair warning that they are behind. And the lenders can foreclose on homeowners. RE agents have no power to do this.
Fun movie but pure fiction!

[–] slidell333 8 years ago

Agreed. I lost a home in the crash. I had more than enough warning...and I got the loan modified. In this film, these people act like they have no idea what's happening...Mmm, you haven't been paying your loan for over a year and you've been served and the house is going to auction...get a plan because sooner or later, you're going to have to leave.

The way this film portrayed it was that these innocent people were just getting evicted and totally clueless. And evicted by evil, horrible people. I didn't pay on my own house for 17 months. I was basically stealing. Could I afford it at the time? No. But if I had gotten evicted, I wouldn't have been as shocked and surprised as these people. You get plenty of warning. And using that whole "this is just a misunderstanding I'm getting my lawyer on the phone" trick works about as good as it did in the movie. It doesn't.

They hadn't boxed anything away, just got a declaration of eviction in court, and still did nothing. This movie is based on some what of a true story and there are agents that do the things Shannon did, but the ending of the film was silly. The guy couldn't even afford the power bill...I don't care what paperwork they had to forge, he hadn't been paying on his mortgage...forged or not, his only hope would be a loan modification. So ultimately Garfield's character did nothing...that guy is still getting evicted.

And as I pointed out in another post...all those people that got kicked out of their homes and the last guy too, would have taken Shannon's job and if the roles were reversed would have stabbed Garfield's character right in the back! Reality.

I've seen people do shady things to get people out of commercial properties but nothing as far as residential. It's not like Shannon was finding ways to evict good mortgage paying people. They all knew this was coming.

I'm with the OP. Pure Fiction! So what, we are supposed to let people not paying their mortgages stay forever? Is that the message? Sure seemed like it to me. How dare those banks want to evict people who are 46 months late! Bastards! And yes, I know someone who was 53 months late. If that were your rental property....what would YOU do? I'm a liberal person but this film was hogwash.

[–] LilyDaleLady 8 years ago

@slidell333: I agree 100%.

There were horrible wrongdoings during the housing/foreclosure/banking crisis -- but THIS FILM is not showing those things. It is pure fiction based on nothing. I wonder if the filmmakers were even Americans or based this on some hysterical articles and not real research.

Realtors may sell foreclosed homes or invest in foreclosed homes but they DO NOT EVER EVICT PEOPLE. Never, ever.

The local sheriff evicts people. I know, as a former landlady who sadly had to evict people. I hated doing it, but what choice do you have, when someone has not paid rent for 3 months, and (in a couple of cases) is ACTIVELY destroying your house?

People get very ample notice of foreclosure, plus how stupid do you have to be to not realize that DUH! if you don't pay the mortgage, you can't stay?

The film posits a very troubling theory that people have a moral, inherent right to their house -- that paying the mortgage is irrelevant, even trivial -- that each person is somehow morally assigned a house that is "their family home" and they can never move -- not even UP to a more luxurious home! (The mother and son are upset to find out they are moving to a gorgeous luxury house with a POOL! yeah, that's realistic!) You must stay forever in this original home, but the good part is it is FREE and you can never have to leave it!

Of course, that is NOT TRUE and is total fiction and BS.

BTW: I live in NE Ohio, the literal epicenter of the foreclosure crisis. And I PERSONALLY know people who "worked the system" to live in a house for up to 3 years, without paying a dime. They did this not due to job loss, but because they were "pissed off" that the house had lost value. Why should they have to pay $1300 a month on a house that was now worth only $50,000 instead of $130,000? So they just STOPPED paying. They had jobs. They were just bitter and resentful.

After THREE YEARS of living rent free, they pocked $1300 each month ( or $15,600 a year, or a total of $47,800!!!!) and after eviction was filed, they MOVED OUT, and into their brand new luxury home with a $47,800 downpayment. They had a much nicer house! It has a name: strategic foreclosure.

I know several cases of this. I also know people who lost their homes because they overborrowed on home equity loans, and lived above their means! Not every foreclosure had anything to do with poverty.

[–] slidell333 8 years ago

Thanks. I ended up renting that house out as I couldn't sell it due to it being In a bad flood zone. I will NEVER rent my own house out again. 3 tenants all gave me problems! Ugh! First couple paid the deposit and that's it..then lied and said the "check is in the mail for two weeks..." I called BS...even MY agent said "well give it some time it is the Holidays.." I just went to the power company and shut the power off on Christmas week. Sorry, they shouldn't have repeatedly lied and lied to the agent and me. The tenant even forged a copy of the deposit check and changed the 11 (for November) to a 12. That was the last straw. I can handle the truth but lying and trying to deceive me...no.

Like I said I had a friend that stopped paying in late 2008 and didn't leave until the house flooded in late August 2012 with Hurricane Isaac. He was literally like 53 months behind. I saw the paperwork. He paid like $155k for this house in 2006 and before it flooded I'd say it was now worth $80k. His business went under with the economy and he couldn't pay that $1300 a month anymore and when you've lost that much equity there's really no incentive to pay even if he could have (which he couldn't).

I've been there...it takes forever for them to kick you out. Unless the bank can flip it quick which in most cases they can't as the loan is more than the value of the property, as you stated. So in this movie I don't know what all the whining is about...I wouldn't have bitched if it had came down to an eviction on my door. Heck, I lived there rent free for over 2 years. Close to it, anyway, before the modification went through.

[–] marx686 8 years ago

Northern CA had a lot of foreclosures during the crash especially in Stockton.
Again, the banks made loans to high-risk people and they either bailed out or borrowed against a loan they couldnt afford to pay in the first place. And they stripped the houses of appliances, copper pipes, wiring, whatever could bring in a few bucks.
Thw writers took small pieces of the crash and strung them together in a very unreal script. michael Shannon and Andrew Garfield make it entertaining but total horse manure.
Yes, the head writer is from North Carolina of Arabic descent. Im sure he owns a home somewhere!