The movie stars Anne Hathaway and Robby DeNiro. It's about a woman who is a CEO of a company learning to balance her husband, daughter and work with the help of a senior citizen hired to be her intern.
Things the film needed to improve:
- Jules to take responsibility for bad parenting and not being a "there" wife
- a better actor to play the husband
- better lines and blocking for the little daughter
The feminist bent was clear from the beginning of the film. Its empowering elements, such as portraying a woman as a successful businesswoman, were refreshingly welcome, and I appreciated the film's willingness to communicate that message blatantly. It fits 2016 well. The film got off for me, though, when the issue of the affair came up.
So Matt has an affair, and Jules has to figure out how to handle it. The outcome of a few soul-searching conversations is that Matt was wrong to have an affair. Well, true. And the outcome of Jules' conversation with Matt was that she should be able to run her company if she wants. Well, fine.
First, it absolutely was wrong for Matt to have an affair. I think the question of fault is more complicated, though. Look at the confession conversation—Matt says, "I was wrong to cheat. You should absolutely keep pursing your dreams. I'm sorry."
Yes, Matt. You made a bad decision. You should be sorry. But there's more to the problem than your mistake—underlying issues that brought about an environment that made it seem like the only recourse. There's more that Jules and Matt need to handle. What drove Matt to have an affair? Jules' absence, whether physical or emotional. If that's the case, what's going to help fix Matt's fidelity problem? More fidelity from Jules. And because so much of the film was her overwhelming dedication to work, it needed to be resolved, and because the film writers chose to bring up the issue so explicitly by writing in an affair, they needed to resolve it explicitly. Matt did bring up in his apology speech that he had thought he could be a stay-at-home dad, but he had realized over the past few months that he wasn't capable. Yes. True.
So: the affair is still the big issue, so let Jules forgive him. Then, have her remember dinner with their friends. Have her remember the guacamole for the fiesta. Relationships involve two people, and relationship issues usually need fixing from both sides. There's nothing with a woman being a businesswoman and a mother. There is, however, something wrong with a mother only being a businesswoman. Because of Jules' success, she was unable to do both. This issue and its lack of resolution weaken the film's message. Jules had no balance; her family's surplus of screen time didn't align with the time they got—or didn't get—in her attention span.For the film to successfully communicate that mothers can have careers, it needed to resolve Jules' lack of presence as a parent.
The thing is, Ben should've caught that. It would've been well within his character to point out to Jules her mindlessness—he'd already done it once when he corrected her on how she treated her secretary. If Ben had reminded her character of her responsibilities, she would've grown along with Matt. This would've also made their willingness to overcome the affair more believable.
The other bothers were generally small—I didn't like the actor who played the husband; I didn't like the lines given to the little girl—they weren't congruous with her age and didn't come off well in conversation. I don't understand why it ended at tai chi, and I think the film lost who its main character was, or switched 3/4 of the way through. That may not be an issue in terms of writing a film, but, as a viewer, I wanted some resolution concerning Ben since it opened focused to single-mindedly on him.
The last (I think!) of my issues was its propensity to start things and not finish them. Did the intern meet JayZ? Did Jules remember the guacamole? (I still contend that completing that open end could have carried lots of weight.) Why did Jules stop biking around the office? (Okay, probably because that just helped character development, and was unnecessary later.) And why on earth bring up the mother if we never meet her anyway? Yes, the break-in scene was funny. But why was it even there? Was Jules' mother part of the worse parts of her character? We don't know, because the connection was never made. For about five minutes before the affair, the movie lost direction. The build-up—if that's what it was supposed to be—was polluted by the excursion into the mom issue. If it doesn't deserve to be remove, it definitely needed to be sharpened.
If those are my issues with the film, what did I like? We'll keep it simple with a bullet list:
- An elderly intern. Ingenious.
- The surprises: When Ben was the intern, not Jules. When Jules' door opened and she had a family.
- The concept, writing, and execution behind Jules' character. Such good characterization.
- The "classic gentleman" character was still valued and was central to the movie.
- The office space and vibes. Goals.
- The character of the secretary. Also, the intern character who moved in with Ben. They did a great job helping complete his characterization.
- Jules' clothes. Yes.
- The hotel scene with Ben and Jules. Super interesting and well-executed.
- Fiona's name. Really good name choice.
Thoughts? Have you seen it? Did you like it?
Love to you all!
Charlie
