I absolutely love Jack Nicholson. I always have. I love watching him perform, how he carries himself, his facial expressions the way he acts and the fact that he is almost always getting away with something in his films. I also like Diane Keaton a lot. She is a funny, down-to-earth, realistic actress with a great face good comic timing. Putting these two fabulous actors opposite one another in a romantic comedy could make for a wonderful film. To put them together in a film and have it fail miserably on every level is just downright depressing to think about. Something’s Gotta Give accomplishes the latter. This is a hopelessly incompetent and I blame that on the director Nancy Myers who has absolutely no clue what to do with the talent she has.
Nicholson stars in the film as Harry Sanborn, a music producer with a ton of money and a knack for dating women
who are half his age. His current interest at the beginning of the film is Marin (Amanda Peet), an attractive young woman who does something or other with auctions. The two retreat to Marin’s mothers house on the east coast for a romantic weekend, only to discover that Marins’ mom Erica (Diane Keaton) and her Aunt Zoe (Frances McDormand) have stayed home for the weekend. Erica is a famous playwright and a divorcee who doesn’t approve of the romance.
After an awkward dinner involving all four characters, Harry ends up having a heart attack and through a series of of horribly contrived and nonsensical situations he ends up staying at the beach house with Erica. An attraction begins blooming between Harry and Erica and every stupid cliche from every other run-of-the-mill romantic comedy results. Basically, two characters who are very much in love with each other are too stupid to speak a couple of words that would make everything okay and are kept apart for as long as possible until the end of the film. Harry’s Doctor is played by Keanu Reeves (you read that right unfortunately) who just happens to be the world’s biggest fan of Erica’s plays, which is crucial in order to give Erica a different romantic interest for a while despite the inevitability of who she will end up with.
I simply didn’t buy anything in this film from the get go. It is a ridiculous and contrived film. I didn’t get the sense of
anything that might really be happening or that the characters had any conviction or confidence in what they were doing. Of course, for a film that casts Keanu Reeves in a serious role as a doctor, I probably shouldn’t have expected much realism. But the problem, as I mentioned earlier isn’t the actors. Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton almost always look like they are having a great time when they are on screen and this is no different. Jack plays his usual smooth, charming self and Diane plays the quirky peppy character that is kind of an extension of what she did in Annie Hall. They clearly enjoy themselves and enjoy playing off one another. Frances McDormand is also charming and funny as Erica’s sister. The actors in this film are above their direction.
This is only Nancy Myers’ third film (she did the remake of the Parent Trap which I didn’t see and What Women Want
which actually isn’t a bad romantic comedy) and she churns out one of the worst directing jobs in recent memory. Scenes
just fizzle out and die right on screen at a constant basis. The chemistry comes and goes at random points. The editing and camera movements are choppy and awkward. The story screenplay is bad to begin with but good actors can sometimes overcome a bad screenplay. Unfortunately, the actors here are faced with bad direction on top of a weak screenplay which is a complete death knell for a movie.
Diane Keaton overacts when she should be underacting and vice versa. Jack does play his usual self, but without the confidence and sincerity he usually brings to the part. Myers inexplicably uses jump cuts at several different points during the film. Jump cuts can be useful and the use of them is a great way to pay tribute to the French New-Wave director Jean-Luc Godard, but judging from the job Myers does with this film I kind of doubt she could even tell you who Godard is.
The film does have some good moments. I liked how Nicholson’s character took jabs at how Jack is in real life with his
reputation for dating. He has some inspired comic moments including a very funny scene in which he runs around a hospital after being drugged out from medication. I liked Frances McDormand and I honestly think it would have been more interesting if her character, who teaches college courses on feminism became involved in a relationship with the philandering Jack Nicholson. Erica writes a play towards the end of the film about her experiences with Harry and it becomes a huge hit on broadway. The casting of the play is very amusing and the few moments of the play that are actually shown were great. The play she writes almost seems to play like an extreme parody of stupid romantic comedies. I would have liked to watch that play a lot more than this film, as it seemed to hold more wit and entertainment than the makers of this film are capable of. As a matter of fact, give me Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton to star in a film that is a deliberate satire of the romantic comedy genre and I will show you a good film.
Something’s Gotta Give is completely lacking in sincerity. I can’t imagine what would have attracted the actors to this
project as it’s a rarity to see either one of the leads in such a run-of-the-mill production. Nancy Myers may or may not be a
good director but she is simply out of her league in this film. To put Jack Nicholson onscreen asking Keanu Reeves for advice and trying to make Keanu a quasi-intellectual sophisticate who could actually give helpful advice to Jack Nicholson is just one of the horrible miscalculations. The fact that this film has been mentioned in consideration for Oscar nominations is truly depressing. I don’t know if it’s just because of the main stars (Keaton getting a best actress nomination is about the only thing I could stomach) or what but this movie wouldn’t even be anywhere near contention had it been released earlier in the year. Take a pass on Something’s Gotta Give. There is some quality non assembly line films in the theaters for the next few months, you could do without even acknowledging this one.
