A couple years ago, I read Tara Road, a book by Irish author
Maeve Binchy about a pair of middle-aged women, one from Ireland and one
from America, who find themselves in the midst of personal crises and
spontaneously decide to swap houses for the month. The premise of last
year's The Holiday, starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law
and Jack Black, is similar enough that I immediately thought of the
book when I saw the trailers, even wondering briefly if this was an
adaptation of that novel. It's not - and actually that book has been
made into a film of the same name, though it wasn't released in American
theaters. But the basic idea is that two women in their late twenties
or early thirties, one from America and one from England, switch homes
for two weeks, during which they try to escape from the misery of two
failed relationships, little knowing that far better romances await them
in their new surroundings.
The American is fabulously rich
but emotionally empty Amanda (Diaz). She makes her millions in L.A.
producing movie trailers and is so wrapped up in her work that wherever
she goes, she hears the distinct, rumbling tones of renowned movie
trailer narrator Hal Douglas, offering cinematic commentary on the story
of her life. After her latest break-up with a putz who cheats on her
and blames it on her workaholism, Amanda, disturbed that she can't
muster a single tear for her sad situation, decides she needs a
vacation.
A Google search leads her to Iris (Winslet), a lowly
journalist in Surrey who listed her charming cottage in the middle of
nowhere on a home exchange site. The timing couldn't be better, since
Iris has just learned that Jasper (Rufus Sewell), the rakish co-worker
with whom she's been smitten for the past three years, has gotten
engaged and never bothered to tell her; in fact, moments before the
engagement was announced at the office Christmas party, he was busy
flirting with her, inspiring hope that their on-again, off-again
relationship might be headed in a positive direction. Now she just wants
to get away from him.
It's perhaps a little too convenient
how easily these women with sordid romantic pasts stumble upon the men
of their dreams, but such is the stuff of Hollywood, and anyway,
profound relationships can develop quickly when people are thrown into
unfamiliar circumstances. Amanda meets Graham (Law), Iris's brother,
when he comes pounding on her door in the middle of the night a scant
six hours after her traumatic arrival, drunkenly demanding a bathroom
and a place to crash for the night. Equally startled at the sight of
each other, both are stricken with an immediate attraction that leads
them to plunge recklessly into what both believe will be a one-night
stand.
For Iris, the process is more gradual. Her first
introduction to Miles (Black), a film composer and acquaintance of
Amanda, is brief and awkward, and they don't meet again for a few days,
by which point Iris has managed to establish a firm friendship with
Amanda's 90-year-old neighbor, feisty screenwriting legend Arthur Abbott
(Eli Wallach). Her kinship with Miles develops as an outgrowth of that,
and as he already has a girlfriend, they enjoy one another's company
but don't outwardly acknowledge any romantic attraction; the kisses
Miles plants on her cheek seem more indicative of an old-fashioned
gentility than an attempt to woo her. But when Miles learns his darling
Maggie (Shannyn Sassamon), supposedly out of state working on a movie,
has been back in town for days and shacking up with another man, the
game changes a bit...
Although I was rather put off by the way
Amanda and Graham's relationship turns physical minutes after meeting
each other, there's an undeniable sweetness to the way it progresses
from there. In another actor's hands, our first impression could be that
Graham is little better than a lecherous drunk. But the devilishly
handsome Law is so irresistible in the role, his indiscretions are
swiftly forgiven, particularly since it is technically Amanda who puts
the moves on him. Though he professes to be a love-'em-and-leave-'em
kind of guy, his actions speak louder than words; he shows himself to be
gentlemanly, sincere and vulnerable in scene after scene, and even when
we learn he has been keeping a major aspect of his life from Amanda,
the motivation behind his secrecy only makes him more endearing. The
high-maintenance Amanda is the least charming of the main foursome, but
she's still quite likable, especially toward the end of the movie.
I'm used to seeing Black in schlub-finds-redemption roles; he always
seems to turn out a decent guy, even if those tendencies are a bit
buried. Here, he's surprisingly mellow, and his character is both
accomplished and courteous, the perfect antidote to the roguish,
manipulative Jasper. Black and Winslet don't get nearly as much screen
time together as Diaz and Law do, since half of Iris's scenes are
focused on the mutually mentorly relationship she develops with Arthur,
who reluctantly agrees to appear at an event in his honor after
considerable nudging by his new friend. I tend to find many of Winslet's
characters a tad abrasive, but Iris is entirely sympathetic, her
consideration and respect for Arthur and her easy camaraderie with Miles
proving that she does indeed deserve to be the "leading lady" rather
than the "best friend", as Arthur observes.
He makes other
observations throughout the film as well that constitute a running
commentary on the way Hollywood has changed over the years; there's
quite a bit of sly self-reference as well, as when he refers to the
moment when Iris offers him a lift home as a "meet-cute". With Arthur,
Miles and Amanda all deeply involved in some aspect of the film-making
process, these sorts of references slip out often, along with amusing
cameos from Lindsay Lohan, James Franco and Dustin Hoffman. This is a
movie that doesn't allow us to forget it's a movie.
There are a
few somewhat shaky plots points to consider. The women switch houses
with one day's notice, which seems an awfully short time in which to
make arrangements for such a trip. I guess there really are no
arrangements; they just pick up and leave with minimal luggage,
notifying few people of their plans. Iris even leaves behind her dog,
and it's not too clear whether she mentioned this to Amanda. When she
first arrives, Amanda is forced to trudge through the snow in high heels
because the cab driver refuses to chug down that narrow country road
and risk getting stuck, but at the end, the same driver pulls up to the
cottage and turns around without protest halfway down the road at
Amanda's request. I'd like to think he felt badly about giving Amanda
such a crummy first impression of England, but it does seem like
slightly inconsistent characterization.
While this is more a
stylistic issue than a plot point, I found it strange that the film
begins with a voiceover by Iris, but she doesn't provide narration at
any other point in the film. I might say it's a nod to her deciding to
take the leading lady role, but the narration seems to be rooted in the
moment of the Christmas party, at which point she is still feeling very
much on the sidelines. Most problematically, while we're offered a
blissful final scene that screams happy Hollywood ending, we're not
given any solid solution to the problem that has plagued these romances
from the beginning - that is, the fact that all four people have
considerable commitments which happen to be rooted half a world away
from their newfound loves.
But that's a problem for another
movie. For this one, the ending is sufficient, leaving us feeling warm
and fuzzy, happy it all worked out so nicely for these folks, if only
until the credits roll.
No comments:
Post a Comment