In 2017, Ben Stiller appeared in a movie overlooked by the mainstream media called Brad’s Status. Ben Stiller doesn’t quite make a fool of himself to the extent we are used to. Despite somewhat good reviews, the message of Brad’s Status has been ignored. In the American mainstream media, its usually the rich vs the poor. We see this scenario over and over again in movies like Wall Street and Working Girl. It’s always the big guy vs the little guy. The middle guy is about as real as the tooth fairy. The middle class is referred to in mainstream media about as often as Santa Clause is referred to in Star Wars.

In Brad’s Status, Ben Stiller takes his son “college shopping.” Brad (portrayed by Ben Stiller)is frequently plagued by feelings of jealousy by seemingly more successful colleagues.

He is especially envious of one person who apparently has their own private jet. It then turns out this person does not possess their own private jet. Finally, a third party reveals this person does in fact own their own private jet(in a way, since it is a company jet and they own the company) but they are in the brink of bankruptcy, and in the middle of dealing with some sort of scam.

The message in this storyline(as with the rest of the movie) is that the world Brad yearns to be part of does not exist, and the little bit of it that does exist requires some highly self-destructive (not to mention possibly illegal) behavior to be a part of.

There is one scene where Brad is talking to Ananya, a friend of his sons. Brad laments that he is not invited to elaborate parties of his colleagues. Ananya retorts that Brad complains he was not invited to dinner parties, she knows people who cannot afford dinner. Brad argues that he is not competing with people who cannot afford dinner.

Then Ananya provides a rebuttal with seven words you rarely hear in American media(or society for that matter.) She says seven words that will shock countless viewers conservative or liberal. She says seven words much more foreign than anything Elizabeth Warren ever said. She tells Brad “You. Should .Not. Be .Competing. With. Anyone.”

The moral of Brad’s Status is simple but also rare and wise: People who want things that don’t exist (i.e. Perfectionism, private jets) are incapable of finding happiness.