Take Juliet, Naked for instance. It's a movie
built on a high concept that isn't about the high concept at all. It's a movie
about a woman in an unhappy dead-end relationship and life, who bonds with a
man an ocean away discussing their mistakes and abandoned dreams. They eventually
come together and use that relationship to start a new course in their lives,
possibly together. That's a good movie but impossible to sell to an audience in
a 2 minute trailer without giving it all away. Wouldn't you rather just pitch
this as a movie about a woman who starts dating the famous musician that her
ex-boyfriend is obsessed with? That's not really what the movie is about, but
it's a pitch that got me curious enough to see the movie. Thankfully, I knew by
nature of it being based on a Nick Hornsby novel that there would be more too
it than the pitch.
In case you don't know about the movie already, Juliet,
Naked is about Annie (Rose Byrne), a woman living in a small English town.
She runs the local history museum: a job she took over for her dying father
years ago and has never been able to leave. She's been dating Duncan (Chris
O'Dowd) for 15 years. Duncan kind of sucks. He is an obsessive fan of a 90s
alternative singer named Tucker Crowe (Ethan Hawke), who release one album then
disappeared. Duncan devotes most of his time to running the Tucker Crowe fan
site. After an argument, Annie posts a negative review of an early cut of
Crowe's album on Duncan's web site. It turns out that Tucker Crowe found the
site and emails Annie out of the blue to say he agrees with her negative
assessment. They begin exchanging emails. Meanwhile, Duncan cheats on and
leaves Annie. Eventually, after a lot more stuff happens, Tucker Crowe visit
Annie's small town where he inevitably meets Duncan.
There is a lot of set up to the movie and a lot of
moving parts throughout. There's a story of Annie and Duncan's relationship,
Annie and Tucker's relationship, Duncan's relationship with the woman he cheats
on Annie with, Tucker's relationship with each of his many children. There's
the mystery of why Tucker stopped making music and the fan vs. artist dynamic
between Duncan and Tucker. Oh, and Annie and her sister's differing approaches
to life. At any given moment, it's hard to know what the movie is focusing on,
and that's my big issue with it. It sets up more than it can possibly cover.
The result is a very uneven movie with a few moments of brilliance. In
particular, the dinner scene when Tucker and Duncan first really meet ends with
a speech from Duncan that's packed with great lines about everything from
taking a good relationship for granted to whether a piece of art belongs to the
artist or the fans.
The pull quote on the movie poster calls the movie
warm, smart, charming, and funny. I agree with the first three wholeheartedly.
However, except for a very funny hospital room scene and some fun with Duncan
finally meeting Tucker, the movie is light on the laughs. It's a RomCom in the
way that About a Boy is a coming-up-age comedy (i.e. it's really not,
but the cast and lighter tone trick you into thinking it is). The only purely
comedic character is Annie's sister, who is a lesbian constantly successfully
going after that wrong kind of women. I did feel the warmth and charm of the
movie though. Ultimately, that's what you'll appreciate the most about it.
Really, I saw the movie for the cast. Rose Byrne is
my big celebrity crush. I will watch anything with her in it. She's a great
lead for this kind of movie. She has both comedy chops from her more recent
movie work and drama chops dating back to Damages. She's great at
carrying herself like she doesn't realize she's gorgeous without it coming off
as insincere. She's able to look worn down which makes you appreciate when the
life comes back in her eyes even more. Ethan Hawke fits into his role
perfectly. I can believe him as a rock star who left it all behind because he is
an actor who at one point was being groomed to be a movie star and went the
indie route instead. Hawke is a high-class version of Tucker Crowe in a lot of
ways (or at least does a good job coming off like he is). It's amazing how
innately likable Chris O'Dowd is. He's a jerk throughout the movie. Really, I
don't care to side with Duncan on anything. Then O'Dowd gives a line read or a
sad, wounded puppy look and I want to give him another chance. You kind of get
why Annie put up with him for so long.
With a little more focus, Juliet, Naked would
be an easy movie to love. The actual version is still enjoyable enough. The
members of the cast play off each other nicely. The messages at the core of the
movie are universal. It makes all the intersecting and conflicting stories work
as well as it can. It's completely disposable, but there's worse ways to spend
90 minutes.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
No comments:
Post a Comment