A Bag of Hammers

A Bag of Hammers is a 2011 American comedy-drama film directed by Brian Crano. Written by him and Jake Sandvig, who co-stars in the film with Rebecca Hall and Jason Ritter. The soundtrack was written and performed by British folk musician Johnny Flynn.

Ben and Alan are great friends who have known each other since high school, and they haven't grown up. For a living, they pose as valets at funerals and then steal their customers' cars and sell them to a pessimistic car dealer. Melanie, Alan's sister, encourages them to find respectable occupations, but Ben and Alan don't take Mel's advice. Then, Lynette moves into their neighborhood. She is a single mother who is financially insecure and has a short temper, as Mel finds out. When Lynette commits suicide, Alan and Ben take her son Kelsey under their wing. With the help of an unenthusiastic Mel, who deems their idea crazy, they try to involve him within their car-theft scheme. However, they come to realize that Kelsey needs more suitable role models, and Ben and Alan will have to grow up.

A Bag of Hammers received mixed reviews. Website Metacritic gave the film a score of 50 out of 100, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. As of June 2020, the film holds an approval rating of 62% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 21 reviews with an average rating of 5.42/10. Andy Webster of The New York Times wrote in his review: "A Bag of Hammers, Brian Crano's low-budget dramedy and first feature, is certainly sure of itself. Any film tossing comic interludes among its closing credits has to be convinced of their hilarity and of the good will the movie has earned with viewers by then. Perhaps the film's naked traffic in sentiment up to that point made Mr. Crano so bold. Whatever; his confidence was unwarranted." John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter wrote in his review: "First-time director Brian Crano delivers a muddled comedy starring Jason Ritter and Rebecca Hall about two felons who unexpectedly wind up taking care of a neglected child."

A Bag of Hammers was released for a limited time starting March 12, 2011, at the SXSW festival and in theatres May 12, 2012. The film was released on DVD on June 19, 2012, by MPI Home Video.