The Ticket

Israel-born director Ido Fluk's The Ticket is a morality play with the same template as Charly and Limitless: ordinary men become extraordinary, only to revert to their original states, battered but not completely broken. Dan Stevens stars as David, a telemarketer at a mortgage company who lost his sight in childhood due to a pituitary tumor. One day he wakes to find that he can see again (his doctor explains that the tumor has shrunk). His wife, Sam, (Malin Åkerman), and son, Jonah (Skylar Gaertner), are hopeful, but confused. "We're gonna have a better life now," he assures them. David's return to sight encourages him to update his look, buy a sports car, and pursue a promotion, but his confidence veers into cockiness as he hits on a married woman and treats his visually-impaired colleague (Oliver Platt) with condescension. When his marriage starts to suffer, David redirects his affections towards a comely co-worker (Kerry Bishé) and together they create a seminar series that preys on the desperation of debt-ridden home owners. But when his eyesight becomes unreliable again, David's selfishness catches up with him. While the film's message—that fate (maybe even divine intervention) gave David the opportunity to make things better for others, but he did the exact opposite—is heavy-handed, the director's touch is light enough to make much of it work. A strong optional purchase. (K. Fennessy)