BEFORE: Romance film #10 for this season - but that means I'm only 25% of the way through. Even with cutting my chain short to re-direct to a proper Irish film for St. Patrick's Day, I've still got about 30 romance-based films to go. I still reserve the right to shoot myself before it's over - maybe I'll feel differently when I hit the big Valentine's Day section this coming weekend.
Malin Akerman carries over again from "Happythankyoumoreplease" - it's good to see that her eyebrows grew back...
THE PLOT: A widow and former songstress discovers that life can begin anew at any age.
AFTER: Admittedly, the focus of romance films is usually on the young people, but I've been mixing it up a bit this year. Sure, it's MOSTLY been about people in their 20's and maybe 30's finding love, but there was a senior citizen couple in "Little Italy", and then there was also "Manglehorn" a couple days ago. Tonight's film is about an older woman, a widow, who hasn't had a serious relationship since her husband died about twenty years ago. For a woman, I'd believe that, some women seem very independent - I don't think I could last six months without being in a relationship, let alone twenty years! I mean, I know I could do it if I'd have to, I'd just rather not because I'd end up talking to the cat - and worse, expecting some kind of answer.
I was a little worried that Malin Akerman wasn't going to show up here, they waited a long time to introduce her into the story - but then I remembered that Carol had an adult daughter, who kept leaving phone messages about how she was planning to come and visit - so I figured that was probably a character played by Ms. Akerman. Then I wondered if Katherine, the daughter, would turn out to be the celebrity owner of a popular but overpriced lifestyle brand of cosmetics and personal products, but no, that would be Blythe Danner's daughter IRL. LOL. JK.
A lot happens at the start of this film - Carol has to put her elderly dog down, she encounters a large rat in her modest SoCal home, and she forms a friendship with her pool cleaner. Carol also spends time visiting her friends and playing cards at a nearby retirement village, and a dashing elderly gentleman flirts with her in a vitamin store. Later, after a futile round of "speed dating" at the retirement community, that same man, Bill, drives by her in the parking lot and asks her out. But before he calls to set up the date, Carol goes out for drinks and karaoke with Lloyd, the much younger pool boy.
The friendship with Lloyd is just that, a friendship. Right? I mean, Carol's obviously got her eyes on Bill, and the age difference means that a relationship with Lloyd is out of the question. Right? But should it be? And how does Lloyd feel about Carol, he never really says - maybe he sees her as something of a mother figure, but that in itself doesn't preclude them dating. It would be a whole different film if Carol dated Lloyd, sure, but it's not 100% out of the question. Right? But before long Bill and Carol have dinner, and they also go out on his boat, and they start bonding over past histories and a few shared experiences, and then all seems like it's on a proper path.
Carol and her old-lady friends get high on marijuana and go shopping for a bunch of snacks. Old people! They're just like us! Carol and Bill get a bit more serious, and Lloyd happens to visit while they're having breakfast, and even though he wasn't in the running for Carol's affections, he still gets the hint to bow out of the picture. Oddly, this is the second film in a row to feature a woman knowing two men with the same first name - Carol's dead husband was also named Bill, and in yesterday's film, Annie had to call her new boyfriend "Sam #2" since she also had a best friend named Sam. That's an odd coincidence, did two screenwriters just stumble on the same idea?
What happens to Carol and Bill is hardly idyllic, but hey, at least it can be called realistic. This film is all about finding the strength to move on from tragedy, whether that takes you days, weeks, or twenty years. You can always try again when you're ready, the film punctuates that by showing Carol adopting a new dog from a shelter at the end. But I'm struggling a bit to figure out the meaning of the rat in Carol's house, was that a metaphor for something, and if so, for what? Loneliness? Reality?
I saw a quote today from Christopher Plummer in an extensive obituary - the 91-year old actor died very recently - and it was something about how when you get to a point in your life when there are more years behind than there are to come, you have to decide how to use your limited time left wisely, and that's really what this film is about, in the end.
Also starring Blythe Danner (last seen in "Hearts Beat Loud"), Martin Starr (last seen in "Playing It Cool"), Sam Elliott (last heard in "Lady and the Tramp" (2019)), June Squibb (last seen in "Father Figures"), Rhea Perlman (last seen in "Lemon"), Mary Kay Place (last heard in "Downsizing"), Mark Adair-Rios, Aarti Mann (last seen in "Danny Collins"), Reid Scott (last seen in "Late Night"), Max Gail (last seen in "The Hero"), Caroline Lagerfelt, Ashley Spillers (last seen in "War Dogs").
RATING: 6 out of 10 hands of bridge
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