Sorry, mystery fans – Tom’s whereabouts are not the grounds for a whodunit, but rather simply the catalyst for intensifying what’s going on with all the characters. There are some funny and charming bits, and we can believe these people still behave as they do, even though adolescence is long behind them, but the movie doesn’t address several central issues.
For one thing, writer/director Galt Niederhoffer, adapting his own novel, makes the mistake a lot of films in this genre do – it informs us that two women are best friends and then shows us little to make us understand how they tolerate one another, much less share a bond that would have Lila invite Laura to be her maid of honor under these circumstances.
One (who hasn’t read the book) surmises that there are events in the original rendered as full scenes, rather than as remembrances related verbally by the characters, which is what we get in the film. It’s easy to understand this change from a financial standpoint – it’s a lot less expensive to have actors talk about the past than to visually create a ten-years-earlier timeframe, with the attendant additional locations, wardrobe, makeup, etc.
However, we have to take on faith how magnetic, charming, compelling, etc. Tom used to be in college, because in the present, he’s so remarkably spineless that, good looks aside, it’s difficult to understand what Laura or Lila sees in him. Wavering in his desire to get married (and with motives that others understandably question), his reason for ditching Laura in the past is so jaw-droppingly self-serving that it’s hard to reconcile this declaration with her continued desire for him.
Paquin elicits our sympathy for Lila, a woman who is at least able to articulate what she wants and why. Holmes brings a lot of fire to Laura and lets us see what’s driving her. It’s hard to tell if Duhamel is doing a first-rate job of serving the script by playing Tom as someone who does his best to be noncommittal no matter what’s going on around him, or if the character was intended to be more dynamic and we’re seeing an actor’s reticence to commit to playing a jerk. Elijah Wood is puckishly entertaining as Lila’s wistfully drunk cousin.
THE ROMANTICS is visually attractive and worth seeing for Paquin and Holmes. It just won’t fit most people’s notions of romance, friendship or any form of long-term relationship worth fighting for.
No comments:
Post a Comment