Movie Reviews from the Dark

 Greetings again from the darkness. A Rom-Com for the 50-ish crowd is pretty darn rare. But then, writer/director Nicole Holofcener doesn’t deliver the typical rom-com filled with lame punchlines and actors with perfectly scultped bodies. Instead, James Gandolfini and Julia Louis-Dreyfus come across as real people with the expected defense mode and vulnerabilities as they try to find intimacy and a personal connection.

Albert (Gandolfini) and Eva (Louis-Dreyfus) meet at a party and subtle sparks fly as both claim they aren’t attracted to anyone at the party. While at the party, Eva, a massage therapist, also meets Marianne (Holofcener regular Catherine Keener), a charming poet who wants to hire Eva to help ease her shoulder pain. Albert and Eva begin dating, and Eva slowly comes around on Albert’s grounded and funny personality. Sure he’s a bit overweight and somewhat slobby, but he treats her well and adores her. Meanwhile, Eva’s massage work on Marianne exposes her to Marianne’s incessant complaining about her overweight and somewhat slobby ex-husband. Yep. This causes quite the dilemma for Eva because she likes Albert and she envies Marianne’s cool lifestyle. Oh and both Eva and Albert have teenage daughters getting ready to go off to college, so the couple also share parent-child separation anxiety.

The story clearly centers around Eva, and it’s nice to see Louis-Dreyfus throttle back a little and avoid some of her sitcom standard moves. We are able to relate to Eva and though we see the corner she is backing herself in to, we also understand how quickly a little bit of poor judgment can spin out of control. Although this is Eva’s story, the real heart of the film is delivered by Gandolfini’s performance. This is no Tony Soprano … this is a real guy … a nice guy … yes, even a sweet guy.

Ms. Holofcener has set her precedent with snippy banter from intelligent characters with her previous films Please Give (2010) and Friends With Money (2006), the former I liked very much and the latter I cared little for. This time, all of her characters and their dialogue ring true and are relatable. Eva’s married friends are played by Toni Collette and Ben Falcone (married in real life to Melissa McCarthy) and they have the only hollow sub-plot with their “should we or should we not fire the maid” dilemma. The two teenage daughters are played by Tracey Fairaway and Eve Hewson (Bono‘s daughter) and both have scenes that really strike a chord and ring true.

Mr. Gandolfini passed away earlier this year and there was the thought that this would be his final released film. However, it’s been decided that Animal Rescue will be finalized and released in 2014. It’s difficult to watch him and not think what could have been over the next few years, though his legacy is quite secure. His range was much greater than many give him credit for, and I would recommend watching him in both True Romance (1993) and Welcome to the Rileys (2010).

SEE THIS MOVIE IF: you want to see a well made rom-com featuring those around 50 instead of those pushing 30 OR you want further proof of just how talented James Gandolfini was

SKIP THIS MOVIE IF: you prefer your rom-coms to be filled with mindless slapstick and cast with actors who could model for Abercrombie

watch the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEEJaIjF_Lo

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 29th, 2013 at 10:38 pm and is filed under Drama, Rom-Com. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.