Watched About Schmidt yesterday. It was a lot better than I’d expected. Well, okay, I don’t know what I was expecting, but the writing is fresh and unwavering, and the acting is great–I actually found Jack Nicholson endearing, which is a miracle, so apparently they’re doing something right.
Today’s movie was Igby Goes Down. It was all right. Here I was expecting more–I really wanted to like it–which is why I’m a little disappointed. It tiptoed between being a quiet character drama and an all-out dark comedy, and I kind of wished it’d picked one or the other and ran with it. (The movie “drifts uneasily between satire and realism,” as the Times puts it.) That said, Kieran Culkin helms the movie pretty well, and has some surprisingly moving moments. Aside: as nice as Ryan Phillippe is to look at, his stilted line delivery undermined any credibility in his character. I suppose that also speaks to the flat characterization in the script, but he slightly overplays as the seeming role-model older brother, making him Cruel Intentionally tedious. (I just had to throw that in there.) Otherwise, good performances from the cast of other well-known actors: Susan Sarandon, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Claire Danes, and Amanda Peet.