AND another 7 seen out of 12 today and this brings me up to 118 seen out of 298, which is 39.6%. I've seen "The Nun's Story", "Anchors Aweigh", "Citizen Kane", "In the Heat of the Night", "Platoon", "No Country for Old Men", "Midnight Cowboy" and "All the King's Men". Great to see TCM calling a film from 2007 a "classic", because that doesn't make me feel old at all.
THE PLOT: An ensemble comedy about the meaning of matrimony.
AFTER: Lake Bell was also the writer and director of this film, and it kind of has the feeling of a film directed by an actor, which is to say that she came up with a few interesting things for the actors to do, she put the characters in some situations that I have not seen before in movies, which is somewhat commendable, but overall I'm not sure what the point of this little exercise was. The synopsis says it's about the meaning of marriage, and OK, sure, let's explore that, but what are you really saying about it, in the end? Is it a good thing, a bad thing, or is it all too complex to come to a conclusion? Owen Wilson's character in "Marry Me" pointed out that centuries ago marriage was more of a business transaction, as in "I will marry your daughter if you give me a parcel of land and some horses" and sure, it's come a long way since then as an institution - however, it's still a business transaction in some ways if you think about it in terms of things like pre-nups and divorce settlements, co-owning real estate and that sort of thing.
There's a documentary filmmaker that ties the different storylines together, coincidentally making a film about marriage (is she a stand in for the real-life writer/director?) and whether it needs to be abolished as a practice, with an eye on the upcoming "Emancipation Day" that sure seems like a made-up holiday. (We had engaged characters literally shackled together in "Shotgun Wedding" and the doc filmmaker also uses handcuffs as a symbol here). So OK, the director is clearly against marriage, but that could just mean she's been through a divorce or two, that's been known to color people's feelings about marriage. So the director of the film-within-a-film proposes a new system, where people should get married for seven years, and then they can decide whether to renew the contract.
But then the experiences of the couples depicted here show us some mixed results - there's an older couple (his first marriage, her second) with an adult daughter (from her first marriage) and they bicker quite a bit - he rides his motorcycle a lot and then for their anniversary she gives him a gift certificate to a seedy massage place because she'll be too busy to do "sex stuff". He uses it as a bookmark at first, but then one day decides to check the place out. Meanwhile Alice and Noah are trying to get pregnant, but also close to bankruotcy due to their struggling window blinds business that he inherited from his father. They agree to appear in the documentary with the idea of making some money, however the filmmaker doesn't want to pay them much, as she's more interested in Alice's sister, who's in an open relationship with a fellow Bohemian, and together they run some kind of hippie commune retreat. This all takes place in Florida, or does that kind of go without saying?
The filmmaker is willing to pay extra for the couples whose marriage is in trouble and who may be close to splitting up, as she needs to prove that marriage is an outdated concept that just doesn't work. However, by paying extra to the couples who get separated or planning divorce, she's actually influencing her subjects, which is a big documentary no-no. There were nature documentaries made back in the 1950's where the filmmakers allowed animals to be killed or harmed, and honestly this sounds just as bad. Once the three couples manage to intersect and find each other, compare notes, they're able to turn the tables on her by publicly proclaiming their love for each other instead of separating on this made-up "Emancipation Day". Well, really, that's what marriage is all about, staying together in order to prove to everyone else that you can do it - sure, there are other benefits but nothing feels better than being successful at something that logically should not work out, according to everyone else.
Other than that, I'm really scratching my head today trying to find the reasons for presenting THIS story exactly THIS way, and pretty much coming up empty. Again, is marriage good or is marriage bad? Is there a difference between bickering and fighting? And what happens when a polyamorous couple realizes that they've actually been exclusive for the last six years - what happened to that swinging lifestyle they used to have? If the three couples have anything in common, it's a reluctance to admit that they and their partners have some very big differences that are worth separating over, which would be tantamount to admitting that the last few years of their life have been some kind of wasted effort. Well, sure, that does sound like modern marriage I suppose.
The first title for this film was "What's the Point?" and I could easily ask the same question about the re-titled film in its final state. Often it was hard to understand what was going on, like the character of Egon, I couldn't determine who he was or what he was doing or even what he brought to the story at all, he could have been cut from the film and it wouldn't have made any difference. Cybil's daughter, Millie, same thing, she was there, she was pregnant, her boyfriend was in jail, she had a home birth, it was awkward, but SO WHAT? All of this was just an aside, with no real effect on the other characters, just another dangling plot point that didn't have a resolution. All six of the main characters being interviewed for the same film, was that enough to tie everything together? I'm just not sure.
It turns out that nearly nobody saw this film when it was released in 2017, and I think it's easy to see why - it's all just awkward and goes nowhere.
Also starring Ed Helms (last seen in "Together Together"), Mary Steenburgen (last seen in "Nightmare Alley"), Paul Reiser (last seen in "George Carlin's American Dream"), Amber Heard (last seen in "The Rum Diary"), Wyatt Cenac, Dolly Wells (last seen in "The Gathering Storm"), Chace Crawford (last seen in "Charlie Says"), Chauntae Pink, Rae Gray (last seen in "Slice"), Susan Berger (last seen in "Kajillionaire"), Sky Elobar (last seen in "An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn"), Hannah Friedman, Kelsey Graham, Shane Graham, Dan Gruenberg, Pamela Keith, Gregory Nalbandian, Marcanthonee Reis (last seen in "Snowpiercer"), Bob Rumnock (last seen in "The Greatest Showman"), Zac Scheinbaum, Conner Shin
RATING: 3 out of 10 release forms
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