Things I loved: How they handled Annette Benning's character. We HATE her as an audience during the first half of the movie and eventually come around on her in a big bad way.
The dinner scene was really very well-written and directed-- the partial suspension after Annette Benning returns to the dinner table after discovering the affair and kept her composure. It reminded me of Emma Thompson's little private breakdown in "Love Actually", another poignant scene underscored by Joni Mitchell's music.
Things that kind of bothered me: I thought the handling of Mark Ruffalo's character was kind of strange-- as an audience, are we supposed to hate him? Feel bad for him? Cheer for him? I don't know if the screenwriters were counting on such a likable performance on behalf of Ruffalo. His character arc felt half-baked and didn't really seem to reach any sort of resolution.
I also thought the crumbling/rebuilding of Julianne Moore and Annette Benning's relationship was pretty shallow-- a frank, heartfelt monologue in front of the television essentially fixed everything?
The kids' friends' subplots were really lame.
All in all, probably a 7/10. Or a strong 6.
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Things I loved: How they handled Annette Benning's character. We HATE her as an audience during the first half of the movie and eventually come around on her in a big bad way.
The dinner scene was really very well-written and directed-- the partial suspension after Annette Benning returns to the dinner table after discovering the affair and kept her composure. It reminded me of Emma Thompson's little private breakdown in "Love Actually", another poignant scene underscored by Joni Mitchell's music.
Things that kind of bothered me: I thought the handling of Mark Ruffalo's character was kind of strange-- as an audience, are we supposed to hate him? Feel bad for him? Cheer for him? I don't know if the screenwriters were counting on such a likable performance on behalf of Ruffalo. His character arc felt half-baked and didn't really seem to reach any sort of resolution.
I also thought the crumbling/rebuilding of Julianne Moore and Annette Benning's relationship was pretty shallow-- a frank, heartfelt monologue in front of the television essentially fixed everything?
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 11:00 am Posts: 16093 Location: dublin Gender: Male
I think Youre meant to feel ambiguous about his character. Hes a likeable guy but who ultimately he does a selfish thing probably cos of his own lack of family situation, it isnt just cos hes horny. He seems to want to genuinely become more involved and maybe even fully part of their lives but doesnt think about the consequences.
Really good performances all around and an interesting FU twist on the idea that homosexuality destroys or is a threat to the family unit.
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Things I loved: How they handled Annette Benning's character. We HATE her as an audience during the first half of the movie and eventually come around on her in a big bad way.
The dinner scene was really very well-written and directed-- the partial suspension after Annette Benning returns to the dinner table after discovering the affair and kept her composure. It reminded me of Emma Thompson's little private breakdown in "Love Actually", another poignant scene underscored by Joni Mitchell's music.
Things that kind of bothered me: I thought the handling of Mark Ruffalo's character was kind of strange-- as an audience, are we supposed to hate him? Feel bad for him? Cheer for him? I don't know if the screenwriters were counting on such a likable performance on behalf of Ruffalo. His character arc felt half-baked and didn't really seem to reach any sort of resolution.
I also thought the crumbling/rebuilding of Julianne Moore and Annette Benning's relationship was pretty shallow-- a frank, heartfelt monologue in front of the television essentially fixed everything?
I felt some sympathy for Ruffalo's character at the end. I think dimejinky nailed it. He was misguided and selfish, but not so selfish that the audience would consider him a sociopath or anything like that. He's a man that wants to care for people, but doesn't want or know how to make that effort in a lasting way. His solution is to half-heartedly try and convince julianne moore's character to just "go for it" and to visit the kids like that will somehow make it all better. Even though he had it coming, I was crushed to see his last scene.
Joined: Sat Jul 29, 2006 7:04 pm Posts: 1875 Location: Atlanta, SE of Disorder Gender: Male
I saw this too. It went in a direction I wasn't expecting. I didn't think it was going to be a laugh out comedy but I did think it would be much more light hearted than it was. The dinner scene was indeed one of the more dramatic/suspenseful moments in film last year. Up until then I didn't understand why Benning was getting so much attention for her role. The Ruffalo character was a goofball with a Peter Pan complex. He was the person he was 20 years ago. He tried to put some effort into being a father figure but didn't know how. He gave it one last shot in the end but by then the bridges had burned.
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