This film is a brutally honest look at how couples verbally wound each other when they can’t handle the emotional situation in front of them. Jack (Mark Ruffalo, 13 GOING ON 30) is married to Terry (Laura Dern, BLUE VELVET), a stay-at-home mom who drinks in the middle of the day. Jack is sleeping with his friend Hank’s (Peter Krause, TV’s SIX FEET UNDER) wife Edith (Naomi Watts, 21 GRAMS).
Both Jack and Hank are professors at a small college in Oregon. They’re the type of men that live in their heads all the time. They don’t feel; they analyze. I felt the fact that the two men were awful husbands, but weren’t awful fathers was very honest and interesting. It’s these complex details that amazed me.
All the characters are well crafted and amazingly portrayed by the stellar cast. But I’m very torn with the film. The dialogue is so real that it’s actually painful to watch. These characters know how to cut each other as only couples know how to cut each other. However, one blaring weakness lessens the film from being completely brilliant. Why Terry cheats on his wife is never clear. We get a lot of hints, but nothing concrete.
I wanted to know more about him, because he has an emotional arch in the film that I didn’t totally believe, because there were key elements left out. Stories that enter a story after its already begun are great, but here a little backstory would have helped. Edith, Hank and Terry are developed so clearly with their motivations that Jack really sticks out, especially because he is the central character. I understand that Jack, doesn’t understand himself, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t.
I can say that Terry is unhappy with her domestic lifestyle and drinks to escape. She’s fallen into a depression that makes her unmotivated to do anything and she resents the fact that Jack can’t see this. (However, there is an abrupt action she takes that seems out of place for her character.) Hank is a philanderer who is as emotionally stunted as any person I’ve seen on the screen. He watches his life – he does not live it. Edith is infuriated with her husband and selfishly strikes up the affair with Jack to get back at Hank. Or at least get a reaction out of him.
However, I can’t answer any questions regarding Jack’s motivations. Why does he cheat with his best friend’s wife? What does he want from life that he’s not getting? Why does he make the decisions at the end of the film that he makes? I can answer these same type questions for every other character. This film is so close to perfection, but just misses it. The film is a brutal emotional drama that will definitely make you think.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
