Juliet, Naked is a rom-com with modest ambitions and disappointing vocals. But if you’re in the market for a sexless British romance, why not go see Edge of Tomorrow instead?
In the warm up to their first meeting, Juliet, Naked feels a lot like a retro reboot of You’ve Got Mail with the voice overs of emails and the long close up shots of Rose Byrne gazing at her phone while her small town historical museum business quietly crumbles to the ground around her. When no more than a couple dozen people come for her grand exhibition of the summer of ’64, we’re led to believe that this is a good showing for the small town and will not lead to the financial ruin of an already struggling business that’s been run by a twenty-something for the last fifteen years. Which is to say, the math doesn’t add up and neither does the story.
Is Rose Byrne pining after a baby at 40? 35? When, exactly, did the museum decide it would hand over the keys to the daughter of the local shark’s-eye-collecting museum director instead of someone with actual credentials? Did she take her coursework online? Why do all the laptops have CD drives?
Annie’s sister (Megan Dodds) plays a character whose sole purpose in the film seems to be to date underage girls or married women, which I think is meant to provide a counterbalance to the white heterosexual relationship on center stage, but she’s as flat as any of the other shrewish ex wives or checked out millennials in the cast.
Annie is presented with three equally unsatisfying romantic choices: her low-key emotionally abusive boyfriend, a burnt out musician who Duncan (played by Chris O’Dowd) describes as “twice her age,” (is that an overstatement or is Ethan Hawke supposed to be 80? why does he look like he’s Duncan’s age in the posters from the 80s?) and, not to be outdone, random pushy dancer guy at the local pub. As a result she makes an equally unsatisfying decision at the end.
Friend and Wife really liked the phone conversation with an estranged daughter and the messy family reunion at the hospital–the sharp stops and untied strings, which are maybe the things that delighted my older brother and sister-in-law as well.
Probably the most thought-provoking part of the film is how Rose Byrne can afford to live in a three-story house either as a renter or an owner as the director of a small local history museum. Almost as much as Duncan strains credulity as a thinking person with his Spark’s Notes commentary about the resemblance of The Wire to “Antigone or Medea” because of how the characters are “locked into their fate”–a statement that signifies nothing except that he’s missed the point entirely about both of those plays. As Ethan Hawke says at one point during the film, “It’s not worth the effort.”
Extra credit readings: “Ethan Hawke is Still Taking Ethan Hawke Extremely Seriously,” Taffy Brodesser-Akner from the NYT. Also, saw the trailer for The Favourite with Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz and it looks fun.
1 Comment