Rating: 4/5
Eliza (Hope Davis) finds a love note she didn’t write that may be directed to her husband Louis (Stanley Tucci), so she goes into the city with her family — her sister Jo (Parker Posey), Jo’s boyfriend Carl (Liev Schreiber), and her mother and father (Anna Meara and Pat McNamara) — to investigate
Greg Mottola’s strength has shown to be hangout comedies with real people and stories, and this movie is no exception. The characters are messy, and while the story has a predictable arc, the people who inhabit the film make the experience a memorable one
I don’t think they handle the reveal well, but for a 90s movie, it could be much worse. Still, a memorable entry in the “holiday movies you might not watch with your family.”
Stray Thoughts:
- Is Stanley Tucci just Jason Schwartzmann without the hair?
- The mom is so funny — “Carl, you’re a smart man. What is this? I don’t understand poetry.”
- Low budget, filming in the car with closeups by necessity, putting everyone’s thought processes in different frames — people talk, and no one listens — makes the movie feel cozy
- The wavering focus of the camera moving through the party is so effective
- Woo, good ending!