Movie Review, Enough Said

The First Lady and I went to the movies earlier today to see Enough Said, with James Gandolfini and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. It's a movie that did not disappoint.

The movie played at Cine, here in Athens, Georgia. They sell beer at this movie house, so I certainly hope we go back to see another picture.

The last show I saw at the theater was Man of Steel, the most recent entry in the Superman cash grab. I'm not a big 'special effects' guy, so that movie didn't impress me. Enough Said wowed the both of us because it was a movie about real people dealing genuinely with real-world problems. And if you tell me a story, you don't need special effects. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel also did this and succeeded.

Anyhow, Julia Louis-Dreyfus is Eva, a masseuse who is divorced and about to send her one child to college (side note: Seinfeld irony, since a famous episode is about Jerry dating a masseuse). Albert is also a divorced parent in a similar situation, and Eva meets Marianne, a poet, at the same event where she meets Albert. Eva soon gets Marianne as a client and friend, and she starts dating Albert, and the movie takes off from there.

We both loved this movie. Gandolfini (sadly, in the next-to-last role before his passing) was outstanding in his portrayal of Albert. Louis-Dreyfus proved to me that she's more than a comedy actress. The side plots all added to the mosaic of the film, in the sense that it helped us see how the characters were trying to resolve their issues, and in helping us to identify with them. The wife and I don't share anything in common with the two protagonists, but we sure could identify with their idiosyncrasies.

Seeing this movie does make me sad that I will have but one more chance to see James Gandolfini do anything. There's one more film coming out next year, but it won't have writer/director Nicole Holofcener's name on it, so we'll see. I may have to find more of Holofcener's work, as well as go back and see The Sopranos. I may also latch onto Veep, which is Dreyfus' latest comedy series. I was that impressed.

The movie did not get a wide distribution and has only grossed about 15 million dollars, which tells you what the average movie goer expects nowadays. It's their loss, because I thought Enough Said told me a story, the characters were genuine, and it held my attention.

Outstanding movie-- one I would strongly recommend.