Ferrell does drama with flair

Two things came to mind after I watched “Everything Must Go,” first-time screenwriter/director Dan Rush’s adaptation of Raymond Carver’s short story “Why Don’t You Dance?”

One was that Carver is incredibly hard to translate into film. No one, not even Robert Altman, has done it perfectly in feature format — though Altman probably came the closest. The problem: Unless you’re doing a short, his material is notoriusly resistent to feature-length treatment; this is because Carver’s stories usually have no beginning or end but are mostly just middles.

Whatever. The second thing I thought about was that Will Ferrell, who is the star of Rush’s adaptation, does a decent job of toning down his inherent brand of comedy. Which also is notoriously hard for many comic performers to do. Jim Carrey has proved that more than once over the years.

Here are some who have done the transition fairly well:

Jamie Foxx: He won a well-deserved Oscar for “Ray.”

Whoopi Goldberg: She was fine in “The Color Purple.”

Patton Oswalt: He was perfect in “Big Fan.”

Robin Williams: For his many dramatic missteps, he did manage to win an Oscar for “Good Will Hunting.”

Mary Tyler Moore: She was no Mary Richards in “Ordinary People,” even though the latter may have been more her natural self.

Will Smith: The former sitcom star/teenage rapper has talent to burn; his performance in “Ali” fooled us into thinking that he would win Oscar gold far before Jamie Foxx (above).

Bill Murray: He has the same problem as Carrey and Ferrell in that his penchant for satire seems to take over his whole personality. But he was good in “Lost in Translation” and ” Broken Flowers.”

There are others. Far more, though, have fallen on their comedic faces.

Below : The trailer for “Everything Must Go.”