Rated PG-13 for sexual content, brief nudity and strong language.
128 Minutes
Written and Directed By: Nancy Meyers
Staring: Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, Amanda Peet, Keanu Reeves, Frances McDormand, Jon Favreau, Rachel Ticotin, and Paul Michael Glaser
I’m like the dumb girl that doesn’t get it. I’ve never been the dumb girl before. It ain’t great. -Erica Barry
Synopsis
A swinger on the cusp of being a senior citizen with a taste for young women falls in love with an accomplished woman closer to his age.
Review
Continuing my “chick flickathon” I watched Something’s Gotta Give yesterday, followed by Maid In Manhatten today. I’m certain the idea of a Jennifer Lopez movie incited the six hour throbbing headache I had, and probably massive caffeinewithdrawls, but I’m alert and able to write my thoughts on these two romantic films. Something’s Gotta Give stars the brilliant Jack and the neurotic talent of Diane Keaton. It’s a romantic comedy about a playboy in his sixties (not a stretch for Jack) who has a heart attack in his young girlfriends house, only to have her sixty something mother take care of him, where they surprisingly find an odd attraction to one another.
It’s another set up meant for total confusion, misunderstandings, and will they or won’t they’s. After the first twenty minutes of a half naked Jack (with a twenty-something’s behind), a surprisingly smooth and handsome Keanu Reeves, and quirky Diane Keaton moments I was grinding my teeth fearing the inevitable. Those moments did eventually come, but not in an overwhelming sense. The romance that develops between Keaton and Jack (sorry I can’t go Jack and Diane……I’ll start singing, the song will be stuck in my head and frogs will reign from the heavens) is actually very sweet and natural. It seems to make sense that he would finally develop an attraction to a woman on his level, being that he took the time to actually invest. Her character having no reason to be on guard, was vulnerable enough to just be herself around him, and the romance bloomed. Everything after killed the sweet and the humor of the two leads after the moment they commenced their affection for one another.
Suddenly, it becomes a movie about twists and turns and confusion. She loves him, she hates him, he wants her, he doesn’t. One tries to rekindle with the other, the other denies. Each develop romances with someone else and each catch each other with those people. It’s a disaster, and not a funny one. Literally, the last forty-five minutes of the movie is like watching ping pong. It’s so melodramatic and overdone, that by the time they finally get to the ending, who cares? You’re just happy it’s over and have forgotten exactly what made the two like each other in the first place, even though they clearly belong together.
It just seems a lot of these kinds of movies I would enjoy if I could cut out half of them. It was the same thing with Must Love Dogs. The last half hour was unnecessary. Even if the majority of the movie wasn’t so bad, the end leaves such an awful taste in your mouth. I did enjoy parts ofSomething’s Gotta Give, but in general it had that empty feeling a lot of movies in this genre has, and the interest becomes more about the two leads then about the actual story or romance. Jack and Diane (DARN IT) were compelling because they were character’s they are good at, and we like to see them in those roles, but the movie itself just wasn’t as good as they were. The Verdict? Another OK romantic comedy.