Rating: 3.5/5
Criterion Challenge 2022 | 11/52 | 2010s
Charlie Barber lists all the things he loves about his wife, Nichole. Nichole is a former actress who moved to New York to do stage work with Charlie.
Nichole lists all the things she loves about Charlie. They have a son, Henry, to whom Charlie is a wonderful father.
They take their lists to a mediator, who is helping them through their separation and eventual divorce. Nichole is too embarrassed to read her list out loud. She leaves the counseling session.
Nichole is moving to LA to do a TV pilot, taking Henry with her. Charlie is staying in New York to take their play to Broadway.
It starts as a painful but amicable divorce, but when Nichole serves papers to Charlie, the proceedings unravel, and their withheld feelings surface.
Just finger me, okay? I'm changing my whole fucking life.
I’ve been dreading watching this movie for a long time. Not because I expected it to suck but because the feelings it could dredge up scared me. Also, the memes suggested this is an “Oscar yelling” movie. And it’s not, not that. But it’s not just that.
The filmmakers color the movie with tiny details that help the story feel lived in — asides said to Henry, observations on filmmaking and television. Noah Baumbach draws from personal experience, but the filmmaking expands beyond autobiography and self-parody, at least to an extent.
The big fight is so tidy. The infamous hole-punch feels performed and unnatural. I understand and appreciate its core, but it arrives as Oscar yelling, which took me out of the movie.
Also, the music queues were so cloying! Randy Newman makes sense for parts of this script, but not all.
Still, the relationship is well-defined, and I understand why they love each other and can’t stand each other.
The ending got me. Just because it makes no sense to be together doesn’t mean you don’t love each other. That’s real.
Let’s talk about the actors:
- Adam Driver is firmly Adam Driver — he’s quiet when he needs to be and loud when the script calls for it.
- Scarlett Johansson is brilliant. It’s nice to remember how good she is when she isn’t in a Marvel or pretending to be a minority.
- Laura Dern is so funny and frustrating.
- Merritt Wever is so funny! She has one scene, and it’s my favorite of the movie.
- Wallace Shawn is disgusting. I love him, but his character is the worst.
- Alan Alda is a gem.
- I’m so happy Martha Kelly showed up. She’s perfect — her scene was the most awkward of the movie.
I haven’t seen many (any?) serious divorce dramas, so I don’t have anything to compare this against. I saw the Scenes from a Marriage picture, so I imagine this movie has some reference. The movie weirdly feels like Boyhood, but I can’t tell you why.
I like this movie. I wanted to love it, but it didn’t feel as effortless as Kicking & Screaming or Frances Ha did to me.