A Girl’s Best Friend…
© A.J. Malouin 2009
(Rating: 9 by The Film Snob, and 15 by Caryl.)
(See our side-bar page “How Caryl & Al and The Film Snob Rate Movies”)
(2008/USA. Directed [and written] by Stephen Belber.)
Caryl & Al sat next to each other during the screening of “Management,” and were only separated a little bit by what they felt about what they saw.
CARYL: I thought “Management” was a “sweet,” non-offensive, and totally unrealistic movie. A movie to wile away two hours on a rainy afternoon. I thought Jennifer Aniston did a credible job, but Steve Zahn did a very good job. Zahn seems to have a rubbery face which reveals his emotions well. The movie turned really foolish when Zahn’s character joined the monastery. It was downhill from that point.
AL: I was very glad to see this film, as it helped me get over my “Fear of Flying into A Jennifer Aniston Movie.”
I had always thought that Jennifer Aniston was a cartoon of an actress, aping it up for her Friends, their pet dogs, and the dreck-of-that-like. Here, however, in spite of being crippled by a meandering and three-fourths-baked script, Aniston showed me touches of nicely done acting. The fault for dismissing her is, of course, entirely Mine and not hers. I am glad she chose this project. With it she woke me up, and showed me what a narrow-minded bonehead movie-goer I can be.
Likewise, Steve Zahn is Very Interesting here, though his character is forced to carry a script which — upon further reflection — I would consider to be eighty-four-percent baked.
But enough about me. I thought the movie started in disarray and got better throughout.
We are never given, really, any reason why the Aniston and the Zahn character get together, unless it’s “I’m really bored, I guess I’ll do Something with you, the only other person around.”
Zahn is touching and transparent in his infatuation, built upon a one-night stand which Aniston engineered upon the basis of— well, it’s never made clear *what* she engineered it on the basis of.
Once infatuated, however, Zahn’s character is relentless in the manner exactly of a puppy dog. He follows Aniston not once, but twice cross-continent. Both times there is clearly no invitation for him to do so. (“You have crossed a line. You have invaded my space,” Aniston tells him, the first time.)
On the second trip, this one to the Pacific Northwest, Zahn picks up a new best friend who vows to help him win Aniston. Why they become best friends, why he would take Zahn into his parents’ house 20 minutes after meeting him, and why this new best friend will help Zahn to win Aniston is Never Made Clear.
There is some nice scenery of Kingman, Arizona, and the Pacific Northwest, however.
Things also become more interesting when the Woody Harrelson character shows up in the movie. He is a Punk Rocker gone to Yogurt King, and we cannot for the life of us understand why Aniston’s character would choose the sweet, aimless puppy-dog Zahn over the macho, effective, intelligent, and rich Harrelson. The script gives Harrelson some boarish things to do, and on the basis of those antics the audience is supposed to choose the other guy for Aniston.
This other guy (Zahn) is, however, nothing more a loyal puppy dog.
Maybe *that’s* it! Maybe this is merely “Marley & Me” in a less-gooey presentation. Maybe it’s not Aniston breaking out and doing something “independent’ at all, or hardly.
If that’s the case, I’m even more confused than I was by trying to follow this not-fully baked script. Aniston shows a couple of nice acting quirks here, but she never really gets over being Aniston. Zahn shows some nice touches here, also, but he never really gets over be Marley.
(1 hr 34. Rated R in the USA for language. In English. With Jennifer Aniston as Sue Claussen, Steve Zahn as Mike, Margo Martindale as Trish, Fred Ward as Jerry, James Hiroyuki Liao as Al (as James Liao,) Woody Harrelson as Jango, Katie O’Grady as the Corporate Bliss receptionist, Yolanda Suarez as Marissa, Kevin Heffernan as Jed, Don Burns as a businessman, Kimberly Howard as a colleague, Collin Crowley as Wally, and others, as well.)