October movies

Three very different films that can be described as romantic comedies to varying degrees, all seen ahead of their UK release dates (in the States or at the LFF) - this is almost like being a proper reviewer!

The buzz for Enough Said, which came out on Friday (oh), is mostly around what has sadly turned out to be James Gandolfini’s final performance. Writer/director Nicole Holofcener’s film is a lot more than that, and certainly deserves better than its tediously generic ladies-only poster campaign.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays Eva, a single middle-aged massage therapist whose daughter is about to leave for college. She meets Gandolfini’s aimiable schlub Albert at a party and they slowly, hesitantly fall in love, until the inevitable spanner hits the works.

Most synopses and reviews have spoilerifically revealed the exact nature of said spanner, which won’t ruin the film for you by any means, but I’m glad I didn’t know what was coming. And although some of the plot points are a touch convenient, the central relationship feels warm and organic, with terrific performances by both leads. Gandolfini’s perfectly against-type turn would probably have gained the lion’s share of the attention regardless of subsequent events.

Some have dismissed this as a “middle-class problems” piece, but whilst one sub-plot does involve Toni Collette repeatedly trying to fire her cleaner, why on earth would you let the comfortableness or otherwise of  the protagonists’ lifestyles detract from such a charming, witty script? As gentle romantic comedies go, this is well within the top tier.

It maybe shouldn’t come as a surprise that Joseph Gordon-Levitt cast himself in the titular lead role in his debut as a writer-director seeing as Don John is a buff New Jersey guido who gets to have sex with a lot of hot girls. However, John has the small problem of a major porn addiction which makes all that real-life shagging seem, well, kinda limp in comparison.

Subject matter-wise we’re in the same ballpark as Steve McQueen’s Shame, but the similarities end there as Gordon-Levitt chooses to play most things for laughs (a dry-humping scene is effectively wince-inducing). His direction is as bright and brassy as Scarlett Johanssen’s femme fatale character, Jersey Shore presumably being his key text. Not that I’d ever watch it to confirm that last point, obviously.

There are echoes of other movies too, the scenes at home with John’s none-more-Italian family bringing to mind those from Saturday Night Fever. But the characterisation and humour there and throughout are far broader, leaving very little for you to really sink your teeth into. There are subtler moments, with Julianne Moore providing some emotional weight, and you can forgive Levitt a great deal because he’s clearly having a ball both on and off camera. But you eventually realise that the big laughs are never really coming, and by the end the overwhelming feeling is that an opportunity to do something more interesting has been squarely missed.

Drinking Buddies covers completely different territory again. Set around one of those hipster breweries that have become very now, there is an overabundance of facial hair on display and the soundtrack is full of bands you’ve never heard of.

Kate (Olivia Wilde) and Luke (Jake “don’t call me Jack” Johnson) seem to spend large parts of their working day goofing off together - y’know, food fights, silly voices and stuff - but all of this dicking around would surely lead to RAMPANT ANIMAL SEX if only both of them weren’t seeing other people. Also, what if those other halves were better suited to each other to boot?

Writer/director Joe Swanberg takes this idea, brings the four characters together and then doesn’t so much run as gently meander with it before reaching a somewhat ambiguous conclusion. Swanberg takes great care not to judge his characters, meaning that your enjoyment will probably be in direct correlation with how amusing/annoying you find Luke and Kate. Rather like American beers, I found them - and therefore the film - a bit shallow and insubstantial. I’d have preferred more of Anna Kendrick too (although not in my drinks, obviously).