At Middleton (2014)

Adam Rogers's "At Middleton" (otherwise "Just One Day") tries to encapsulate - and build on - the feelings people have when their kids (in this case only children of 2 marriages) go on/off to university. Since a great many of us know that feeling, and all its emotional, practical and financial (!) nuances, there is a ready-made audience out there somewhere for Edith Martin taking daughter Audrey, and for George Hartman taking son Conrad, to a chocolate-box-looking place of learning (easy enough on the eye, certainly) but trying vaguely to make out it's Ivy League-ish, when actually it's far from it. If you're feeling the symmetry in the above description, you may not be surprised to learn that it's writ large in the film, given that Conrad (a competent-enough Spencer Lofranco) is the rather non-academic though likeable-enough son of a rather stiff and intense (heart-surgeon) father - played by Andy Garcia; while Audrey (an OK Taissa Farmiga) is the driven, bright, tetchy and intellectual daughter of a slightly off-the-rails and a little bit too uninihibited mother (Vera Farmiga - yes (and no) - this actress is the SISTER in real life).If you go on to imagine that the kids are going to help each other out, well that's so only partly; while if you think that George will help Edith get serious, while Edith assists George in lightening up, well you'd be more correct, but in fact this pair are both going to end up experiencing both bliss and extreme heartache in the course of "Just One Day".A big part of any enjoyment you're going to extract from this therefore lies in the plausibility of a romance that can grow in literally the space of hours. On the other hand, this may be a romance waiting to happen, propelled along by desperation (and the aforesaid emotions of that unique "kids leave the nest" moment), all the more so given that both George and Edith are only now really admitting to themselves that they are not happy in their marriages, and are not far from a conviction that they might actaully have wasted - or underlived - a major chunk of their lives.Those who have been through a bit of life are going to see that there is some mileage in this story. The young-cum-old and handsome/ordinary Garcia - whose input into this film goes beyond acting - has the potential to carry this off, while Vera Farmiga (rightly) looks a bit careworn by everything, but has a certain grace, and indeed a coquettish attractiveness she seems able to switch on and off as the mood takes her. They make a pretty enough couple, and at their most intensive moments (of which there are several) they are able to convince and even move us. Unfortunately, however, the makers' desire to persuade us that there are funny and even slapstick moments in all of this largely fail, and occasionally fall flat on their faces. This is not merely the case for the stars either - several other characters seem to switch from serious to silly to standup and back again in the space of a few lines, and this is jarringly non-cohesive.However, we out here in audience-land can "piece out their imperfections with our thoughts" if we so choose, I guess. (Though one is entitled to ask why we should have to do that!) And in so doing, we might put ourselves in the situation of attractive but somewhat subdued people who realise the wonderful time they might have together, but have only the briefest of brief encounters in which to experience that. Nobody who is not made of stone can ignore that entirely, though my choice of terms in the last sentence is of course non-random, and we have seen the odd (better) film resembling "At Middleton" before now. Anyway, if you've really got a spare 90 minutes or so, this film has a few better and more meaningful moments that it might be worth keeping faith for...

Adam Rodgers directs "At Middleton". Boasting a cute premise, the film watches as two middle-aged parents, played by Andy Garcia and Vera Farmiga, attend a college tour with their kids. Not trusting their tour guide, the duo decide to explore the college on their own. They henceforth have several little adventures, an impromptu romance, and reveal various facets about their lives."At Middleton" is slight and can't escape the clichés it eventually writes itself into. It also borrows too heavily from Richard Linklater's romances and saddles Farmiga with another cheap Manic Pixie Dream Girl role. On the flip side, both Garcia and Farmiga are endearing, the film bounces well, is funny, and treats us to some gorgeous Washington State scenery, in which sunlit campuses welcome dreamy hearts into their hallowed halls.7.5/10 - See "The Paper Chase", Minneli's "The Clock", "Liberal Arts", "You Can Count on Me" (2000), "Home for the Holidays", "Ali: Fear Eats the Soul" and "Away from Her".

Andy Garcia: "A spirochete. Do you know what that is?" Vera Farmiga: "Is it something like a parakeet?" AG: "It's a parakeet that was a spy during the Spanish-American War." VF: (cracks up)If you think that someone might actually say that, and that someone else would crack up laughing when they did—then have I got a movie for you! (I admit I overlooked some obvious red flags in the reviews on IMDb before we sent for the disk from Netflix b/c I like to err on the side of Vera Farmiga.) She and her way-younger sister Taissa make a convincing mother-daughter combo, and Andy Garcia's not bad either, but the romcom cliché plot (free-spirited babe awakens uptight guy's inner child) and the trying-too-hard dialogue were just too much for us. There's also a lot of silly filler—montage of carefree bicycle ride around sunny campus; Vera scampers up staircase of church belfry while acrophobe Garcia clings to the railing .We pressed the Stop button shortly after the above exchange, and from what I gather from the reviews when I ✔ed them out again, the first half of the movie was the good part.

"By the time the afternoon bell rings you will have fallen in love. I guarantee it." George Hartman (Garcia) and his son arrive at Middleton College for a tour. While there he meets Edith Martin (Farmiga) who is doing the same with her daughter. The two begin talking and soon strike up a fast friendship that over the course of the day evolves into something that makes them question everything. I'll start by saying I wasn't really excited about watching this. I expected a basic love story with out much substance. What I did find was I liked it much more then I expected. While the movie is really nothing more then two people talking for an hour and a half it was actually entertaining to watch. The best way to really describe what happens in this is to compare it to the Before Sunrise trilogy. This has the same feel. Two people meet and we watch their relationship grow over a few hours. The most entertaining aspect of the movie is watching how the roles of the children and parents switch. The parents have the college experiences and the kids stress about everything else. Overall, if you liked the Before Sunrise movies then you will like this as well. Better then I expected, it was very romantic and a very real love story. I give this a B+.