BEFORE: I know Nicholson's only got a supporting role here, but it counts, and it's another of those great big ol' important movies I never got around to.
THE PLOT: Aurora and Emma are mother and daughter who march to different drummers. The movie covers several years of their lives as each finds different reasons to go on living and find joy.
AFTER: For me this was a film about life's little awkward moments - being nervous on dates, saying goodbye when someone moves away, finding out your spouse is having an affair, getting caught up in one yourself, and having phone conversations with your mother when you're not exactly seeing eye to eye. The movie seems to revel in these disturbing events, bringing about as many different ones as possible. But that's OK, because life often is awkward, and maybe Hollywood movies have spent too much time over the years not showing those times.
Nicholson plays the next-door neighbor here, a former astronaut who chases younger women, frequently drinks, and is more than a little self-absorbed. The part really fits him - everything sort of rings true, if you think of him as past his prime, and no longer fit for space travel.
Among the chaos, there are a few moments when people manage to genuinely connect with each other, but mostly people are at odds - feuding neighbors, fighting spouses, screaming babies. Maybe it's a little TOO real...
And the ending - do I need to discuss it? Geez, I've never seen the film, and I already knew how it ends. But again, it's a cross-section of life, and doesn't everyone's story come to an end at some point?
Also starring Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jeff Daniels (last seen in "Dumb & Dumber"), Danny DeVito (last seen in "Hoffa") and one of my fave actors, John Lithgow (last seen in "A Civil Action").
RATING: 5 out of 10 swimming pools. Sorta neutral on this one, it's a well-told story but it's not really my kind of film.
JACK-O-METER: 7 out of 10 - despite not having a lot of screen time, Jack shines here by being abrasively charming (or is it charmingly abrasive?), driving a speeding sportscar along the beach, and putting the moves on Shirley MacLaine.
No comments:
Post a Comment