Something's Gotta Give (2003)

"Some say I'm the expert on the younger woman...That's probably because I've been dating them for over forty years."Harry Sanborn (Jack Nicholson) prides himself on his many affairs with beautiful ladies.As the movie opens, he's about to spend a nice long weekend in the company of Marin (Amanda Peet), whose mother, famous playwright Erica Berry (Diane Keaton), owns a beach house in the Hamptons which seems perfect for a romantic tryst.The appearance of Erica herself, however, interrupts the two love birds just as their relationship is about to get serious, and along with her sister Zoe (Frances McDormand), descends upon Harry as he's raiding the refrigerator, and (mistaking him for a burglar) nearly gets him arrested.What follows is a very uncomfortable dinner during which Erica is barely able to conceal her dislike for Harry."He says he's leaving as soon as the sun comes up." Marin tells her mother in the kitchen."Why? His car doesn't have headlights?"The unpleasant evening culminates with Harry having a heart attack.After Erica is forced to give him mouth to mouth, Harry is rushed to the hospital where he is attended to by Dr. Julian Mercer (Keanu Reeves) who happens to be a huge fan of Erica's, and sets out to pursue her.After a series of disasters which lead to Harry staying at a begrudging Erica's beach house (he's unable to travel), the two find themselves falling into a torrid love affair, from which neither of them will emerge unscathed.This is a rare jewel of a movie.Not only is it hysterically funny (it is that), but it also deals with a theme rarely seen in romantic comedies, which is that of two older people falling in love instead of the usual post High School couples we always see.After all, there is life after forty.All the actors are just spectacular.Nancy Meyers does an incredible job making this movie. She's incredibly talented both as a writer and as a director, and I have yet to see a movie of hers I dislike.In an age where Hollywood seems to be going down the drain, it's nice to know there's a filmmaker out there who still knows what she is doing.Originally, Review #128Posted On: August 18, 2011

Rich, womanizer older man goes out with floozies and bimbos. Great. Except Amanda Peet is cast as one of his girls. Amanda Peet is lovely, nothing against her, but it's impossible to buy her as a trophy girlfriend to a rich NYC businessman.My opinion might be influenced by the fact that I'm from NYC and I see these rich guys with their "girls" all the time. No way they would even look at someone like Amanda Peet. She's great for wholesome parts but totally wrong for the part.Just can't buy it.Extra line here because minimum of 10 lines.

A classy beach drive, prefacing the buoyancy of the whole mind-map. A quick background to the very next scene—affluent mom and her beach house, and the daughter's utilization of resources at her absence, not for herself, but for a 63 year old Harry Sanborn—cigar-puffing magnate, who also assumes to be a playboy, quite favorably so. She strips down, while Harry isn't allowed to smoke another one—it's Marin's mother's house, and she wouldn't like that. But she wouldn't mind Marin making-out with a 63 year-old heart patient. Turns out, she doesn't. Well she does look surprised, but the awkwardness of the moment withers away with the awkwardness of the self—mother's kinky attitude towards Harry seems nerving to the seesaw couple. A couple of misogynistic lessons, and apparently, the true "self" comes out. But with all the Jack n Jill going on, it's ultimately Sex n Pill which save the day.Viagra, Sanborn-buttocks, turtle-neck-kinda-gal, I-was-going-to-the-kitchen, walk at the beach, and hence, the story moves on. Jack Nicholson is au courant, and upmarket as ever before, but Diane Keaton delivers something truly terrific. Movie aside, she delivers a very important message: age and looks do not go adjoined. Her Erica's is wine-like sophisticated, strong yet fragile, wordy yet sensuous, and most of all, intrinsically leaned towards exploration—the kind that doesn't get frank at a moment's notice, but longs for an eye-to-eye connection to render the purest "self." And that's where Jack's eyes take the lead. Guy has something going on in his skin, probably some kind of a genetic experiment (Sorry, not a science guy.) He takes off with Diane to tune into a magnificent, heart-melting story of two people over-the-rope for this kind of stuff—love and the love-making.Nancy Meyers shoots it into the sky with exquisite, happy-go-lucky script—it's colloquial, tragic, strenuous, and vividly sentimental. Their first cry in the bed, their wrapping-around-arms, and eventually, "You are a woman to love," is everything that's needed. It sort of completes Erica's biopic. Nancy would definitely have failed if it were not for Jack's gaudily command over expressions and intonation together with Diane's more-then-absolute fitting into the role. With that, Meyer's comical incorporates a different kind of sexy. Honestly, nothing would have rendered appreciating feedback had it not been for Diane's inner-self smile, and Jack's apparently self-regulating but internally contingent upon heartfelt emotions from another state of being, and this is the underlying truth behind Diane Sawyer's ex-fiancé, who has had more than 40 years of "playboy" experience. Because when I think of the storyline only, and not the lead cast, except for a few puns, I'd kill myself halfway through the movie.Somewhere amidst the epic touchiness of the whole concept, a dull and boring ending arrived, which I expected to be the most unlikely. Sure I could figure it had to be Paris, but it was just mundane. I'm not talking about performances here; I'm talking about execution. And from what I saw, Nancy wasn't aware of the credibility of her idea, and probably went easy on herself, maybe a little too easy.Now, the legendary wrecker—Keanu Reeves. What is with that guy? He's sort of satisfactory, and sort of lame. Why does he always fail to impress me? I could say that he was the only flaw in the story—even the character he played. It lacked purpose throughout. The movie would have sailed through effortlessly even without him. Alone lady, alone celebration, and alone trip to Paris. What's wrong with that? So that was the only major flaw in the storyline.From the screen, Something's Gotta Give is literally a journey halfway through the world, not just to and from countries, but individuals, and hearts, and minds of people in those countries. At the end of it all, it's still people, and it's still a movie, because Louis Armstrong's La Vie en Rose, Erica's much-loved Jazz song, translates something like this: life through rose-colored glasses. And that's about it—Paris, superficiality, and everything nice hurries away in no time.

What is happening in this movie? I'm watching it right now, but I don't know. I mean if I had ten million dollars to make a movie it sure as sh*t would not be this movie. I would want to make a good movie, y'know, one that means something, but hey, I make pizzas for a living, the f*ck do I know. Did you know that when you employ actors to act they can simulate real life experiences? Yeah, it's true, all that is required is a director and a script- but you would never guess it with this movie. Maybe this movie would make sense if I was rich but clearly since my wheelhouse involves pizza dough, I don't understand. All of our lives for this, and we walk away with what?