Tuesday, 24 February 2004
Something's Gotta Give
I guess I'm not exactly Nancy Meyers's target audience: male, under-40, and not naturally given to getting myself into "wacky" situations. But then again, I do like seeing a funny movie.
Which is why I was disappointed when Something's Gotta Give seemed more like a series of awkward moments passing for comedy. "Jack and Diane," as the American movie poster un-ironically bills its leads, get off to a rough start and warm up to their roles as the story progresses.
But wait: since movies are filmed out of sequence, wouldn't that mean that the rough moments come and go? So that means that the apparent clumsiness is actually intentional, right? Hmmm.
I'd gladly accept that explanation, except that by "clumsy" I mean that the two didn't so much play their roles as they themselves appeared uncomfortable with their part in the story. It's hard to explain, but I'm willing to play the trump card here and remind you whose mini-review this is. Deus ex machina, indeed.
I wish that there had been at least one ironic reference to Nicholson's real-life penchant for beautiful young women. And the great Frances McDormand got a pittance for screen time, especially considering that she was third-billed (before Dr. Boy-Toy, Keanu Reeves). Keaton was fine, but she was overkill for such a simple film - except such a film needs two top-billed stars, so there she is.
I guess that about sums it up for me: overkill. Too much "situation" in "situation comedy," too many A-list people (including Meyers herself) for what could have been a funny little film. I much preferred the outright over-the-top Meet the Parents: Robert De Niro's straight-man role and the everyone else's hamming it up felt much more natural. "Natural," as in "fun." I just didn't have the same fun here.
As a footnote, I get to mention my own "insider" experiences. The funny thing is, the Paris-in-winter scene on the bridge was done sometime during our historic heat wave of 2003. I didn't see it myself, but a friend watched for more than half an hour as they did take after take of a sweltering (I assume) Nicholson trying to act cool. My personal run-ins were limited to a couple of weekends of having to work my way around a mass of parked trailers on my way (and in my way) to a favorite bar of mine.
2 / 5 : fine, but I probably could've seen something funnier on TV