10. Something’s Gotta Give
Time will tell, of course, but I think this is one of those rare movies that will grow in stature as the years go by. Kinda like Groundhog Day has done. I truly believe that Groundhog Day will be considered a classic 50 years from now. And at the time it came out – sure, people liked it – but the groundswell of support for it has only increased, the further away one gets from its original release. This is my belief with Something’s Gotta Give. Yes, Diane Keaton was nominated for an Oscar (and with MY criteria she should have won – but alas, I am not in charge of the world) – and yes, it was a huge popular success for pretty much everyone involved in it – but it didn’t REALLY get the props that I feel it deserved – as not just high-quality entertainment – but a movie that is really ABOUT something, a movie that really GOES there – a movie that works, again, on multiple levels – with a minimum of cliches. I felt like it was written off as a chick flick – and don’t get me started on that bullshit.
I have written about this movie before – mainly honing in on Diane Keaton – but that post is a pretty good indicator of my regard for this film.
Allison and I went and saw it in the movie theatre when it first came out. I think we saw it on the first weekend – the place was PACKED. I don’t think I had really wanted to see it for some reason – maybe the marketing of it didn’t hit me, or something about it didn’t appeal to me, even though I love Keaton, Nicholson, and Frances MacDormand – but for whatever reason, I kind of wrote it off beforehand. I think a lot of people did. It’s because of that bullshit “chick flick” thing – and again, don’t get me started. (haha)
But we sat there – and I remember just where we were sitting in the movie theatre – and I remember what that whole night was like – and I remember Allison and I both just falling in LOVE with the film. It was such a delight! What a SMART script – watch Nicholson at the dinner table trying to deal graciously with being interrogated by Keaton and MacDormand. Great script – great playing OF script. There are moments in the movie that are laugh out loud funny – but a lot of it is subtle, observational humor.
Like the day after he accidentally sees her naked (and is horrified – he’s never seen a woman his own age naked) – they run into each other in the hall – and she is wearing a baggy black turtleneck, a black hat, sunglasses – she looks completely protected – He tried to bring up the awkwardness of having seen her naked – she says, “Please, let’s not talk about it, okay?” The conversation gets a bit prickly – and she walks away, and Nicholson calls after her, “Well I’m not the one wearin’ weird outfits and sunglasses …” That’s smart writing (he notices that she has over-dressed, as a response to the naked moment) – but the way he plays it is fuuuuuuuuunny.
The mother-daughter relationship in the film is another one of those unexpected delights – light on the cliches – it doesn’t go where you THINK it will go – and this makes me realize how many bad movies there are out there, with atrocious writing – that I am SURPRISED when writing is good.
The daughter, gorgeously played by the TOTALLY under-rated Amanda Peet -(I’m a huge fan – I’d love to see her have a moment in the sun – and frankly I was surprised that she didn’t get it with Something’s Gotta Give – because she, and how she plays her part, is part of why the movie is so effective. Nicholson said that himself. So genous!) – Anyhoo – the daughter is not in competition with her mom – you THINK the movie might become a sort of madcap competition beteween two women for the attention of this one man. 100 other movies would have gone that way. Not this one. Watch the look on Amanda Peet’s face during the pancake-making scene when she realizes that something is going on between her mother and Jack Nicholson. It’s just one brief close-up of her face – and in one second she realizes: Holy crap. My mother – my uptight celibate unhappy SUCCESSFUL mother – is having a date right now … omigod omigod omigod this HAS to work out for her – it HAS to – okay okay whaddo i do whaddo i do … I have to back out of the picture … how will this work??? Amanda Peet has one close-up that lasts for .3 seconds – and ALL of that is on her face.
The ending packs an enormous punch – even I was surprised by how moved I was. Allison and I were just on cloud nine after seeing the film – and I’ve seen it countless times since. It always works. I rarely fast-forward through any scene. Because each one still has tremendous meaning, humor – the behavioral moments, little glances, etc. – it’s so so rich.
Like I said – I think this is a classic, and of course time will tell – but I think it will FAR outlast some of the huge blockbusters over the last couple of years. It’s a special film – filled with well-written funny intelligent flawed characters – it takes its time in its set-up – it doesn’t go where you think it will go – I think Nicholson gives one of his best performances – untamed, funny, SMART (watch the moment where he falls off the bed after falling asleep looking through her yearbooks – it’s like Cary Grant’s pratfall in Bringing Up Baby for me – no matter HOW MANY TIMES I’ve seen it, I always howl.)
And Diane Keaton’s 5-day crying jag? I literally cannot think of another actress who could do that montage – of a woman HOWLING with misery – for FIVE DAYS STRAIGHT – and have it be as funny as it is.
But then, at the end … with the midnight IM conversation between her and Jack – and she’s still in the weepy mode … somehow, somehow, and this is the true genius of Diane Keaton … you no longer laugh. You have been laughing at the various shots of her weeping for about 5 minutes – there she is crying in bed, crying at the typewriter, howling in the shower, howling on the beach – it is soooooooooo funny – and suddenly, in that quiet little IM’ing scene – you see her bubble up again – with grief, loss … and you no longer feel like laughing. You ache for her.
That is a master of her craft. Nobody else could have done that part. We have a lot of great actresses in their 50s and 60s in this country – but that part could only have been played by Diane Keaton.
Very under-rated film. It’s marvelous. One of the best films I’ve seen in the last 20 years.
As you know, I agree with you on all of this. Your comparison to Groundhog Day is astute. I think both of these movies will continue to grow in popularity over the years. This is a classic movie that is made in the style of the old classics, but it has a modern sensibility. The writing and acting are incredible–these are real people, not your typical movie cut-outs. Amanda Peet is adorable. If I had a daughter that lovable, my parental-protective instinct would overload about every five minutes(Damn, I just realized how old that sounds–it wasn’t that long ago that I would have been thinking about boinking her. Now I think of her as my daughter–how depressing). Frances McDormand has a small part, but she does a lot with it–I enjoy watching her, now that I have seen the movie a couple of times, just to watch her reactions. And Keaton and Nicholson are just great. I cannot imagine a better performance than the one Diane Keaton gives, and Nicholson is at his best. The scene outside the restaurant where she tells him, “What am I going to do with all this?” just kills me everytime, as does the crying jag. This is the kind of movie that makes a fan mad they don’t make more like it, and it exposes how crappy and trite so many movies are today–cardboard cutouts against a cardboard sky.
I haven’t seen this one yet, but at this point I’ve heard enough to know I should. Initially it just seemed so ripe with possibilities for badness that I shied away. I’ll try to remedy the situation forthwith…
DBW – absolutely. It’s a wonderful film. Made for adults. And the characters actually seem to live and breathe.
I think Amanda Peet is marvelous – way better than a lot of the other actresses getting all the press. She is GORGEOUS but she actually seems like a PERSON as opposed to a starlet with a growing career.
Oh and one other note:
I recently watched the DVD commentary – and there’s one with the director, Nancy Meyers – and Jack Nicholson.
I highly recommend it – it’s a blast. Jack is just a classic. I feel like I feckin’ KNOW him, which is so inappropriate – but I guess that’s just him being a star, and being accessible somehow to all of us. He’s funny, smart – you see how much THOUGHT he put into his performance. For example – in the opening scenes with Amanda Peet, and when he meets Keaton and Macdormand (before the heart attack) – he does a couple of winces, flinches, etc. – very subtle – very very subtle – but you can tell (in retropspect) that a heart attack is coming on. An audience member seeing it for the first time wouldn’t put it together – but it just adds to the real-ness of it when you see it again. Every detail you can add like that makes it seem like real life happening, as opposed to something planned out. And that’s all Jack. Nobody told him: “Okay – please foreshadow your heart attack here …” That’s just his intelligence working.
Stuff like that – I just really respect him so much.
And Keaton’s one of my favorite actresses.
One of my favorite scenes is actually Keaton and her daughter, sitting on the steps on the beach – and Amanda Peet admits to never having had “the time of her life” – and Keaton’s response!!!!! She’s in the middle of the cyring jag, so her emotions are right there – and she compulsively grabs her daughter’s hand, grips it, and says, “I know, baby, I know … and I ask you this, with all the love that I have: what are you waiting for?”
Gorgeous.
Also – Nancy Meyers who wrote the thing wanted to make SURE that even though the Nicholson character only dated 22 year old women – she wanted it to be clear that he did date women of substance. Like the Amanda Peet character. Being an auctioneer at Christie’s is a feckin’ tough job – Meyers wanted to make sure that we get the point that Nicholson, although a schmuck, whatever – is not at all into bimbos.
This was a sort of subtlety that I missed in my first viewing – but when Meyers said that in the commentary I realized how much it helped the film.
You just love him. It’s not just about his journey towards being a true grown-up man – it’s about her journey towards accepting a guy who feckin’ LOVES her.
That wouldn’t have worked if he had been hanging out with Pamela Anderson slut-bimbos.
You’re right. I didn’t notice that the first time, but even the ex-girlfriends he goes to visit at the end all seem to be more than just pretty faces, i.e. women of substance.
Keaton and Nicholson are so great together. Even a small detail like the black and white stones, which would be laughable with lesser actors, has honest meaning with those two.
I got to laughing about my comment above. I am criticizing trite writing, and my comment is full of such deep observations as “Keaton and Nicholson are just great,” and “Nicholson is at his best.” Cracks me up. I’m surprised I didn’t say, “They really give 100%.” HA!
hahahahahahaha
DBW – well, at least you didn’t say “and then they joined as one”, etc. etc.
Oh, I love this movie!! Keaton, Keaton, KEATON!!
And I have to say something. I actually really liked Keanu Reeves in this. I mean, you’ve got these great performances — Keaton, Nicholson, McDormand, Peet — and you never expect much from Keanu (or at least I don’t) and yet, he is GOOD in this. I love his interactions with Keaton — the way he befuddles her but lights her up. I mean, obviously, a lot of that is her, but he’s interesting in this. You believe that he is really into this older woman. That she rocks his world in an unexpected way. He’s always loved her plays — and so there’s this intellectual/emotional attachment before she just spills into his little world. I love that he knew who she was, this playwright. There was this sense in their moment of meeting that he KNEW her, you know? And I love how you see him know, just KNOW, during the dinner scene in Paris that they are through, that she is in love with Nicholson.
He’s got more of a tenderness and a smartness in this movie than I’ve ever seen him have before. Maybe it’s because of the company he kept in those scenes, but I was so pleasantly surprised to see a different level with him.
tracey – man, you’re right! I always forget to mention Keanu – and he was such a pleasant surprise – and just perfect in his role!
I love his first moment:
He comes out of the emergency room. Amanda Peet runs over.
“How is he??????”
He says to her kindly, “Your dad’s going to be okay.”
She says, “He’s not my dad.”
Short pause. Keanu then says, “Oh. Your granddad is going to be okay.”
bwahahahahaha
And tracey – member the scene where he jumps off the back of the couch and chases her into the next room? And she screams as she runs away? That was totally improvised – not written into the script. He chose to do that, on impulse- and went with it. If you watch it again, you can see how the camera-dude had to adjust in order to pick up the action. That made me really respect Keanu – because it’s a really good moment, and to think it just came out of his own imagination and impulse!!
Hooray for Keanu! He has an IMAGINATION!
No, seriously, I reeally liked him in this. His character kinda opened her character up. Nicholson was her “match,” but Keanu’s character had to pave the way to her heart, almost.
Okay. I need to watch this again. I just rented it along with a bunch of other movies about a month ago when my husband was out of town and had a really nice weekend wallow.
Sometimes, you gotta have a weekend wallow, you know?
I am all about the weekend wallow. :)
Oh, and hooray that someone can be a Couch Jumper — in a GOOD way.
Sorry – one more bit from the DVD commentary:
Okay, so member the scene when Nicholson goes back for his check-up and it’s after he’s slept with Diane Keaton – and he’s all EMOTIONAL. Like – he finds himself just suddenly welling up with tears, and he’s mortified? And he’s sitting there asking Keanu if this is normal, etc. … and Keanu is reassuring him …
Anyhoo, member that scene??
Nancy Meyers on the commentary said that they did Jack’s side of the conversation about 20, 25 times – she likes a lot of takes. Nicholson did it differnt (and REAL) every. single. take. Sometimes he was angry, sometimes he was literally breaking down into tears, sometimes fighting the tears, sometimes totally calm about it … etc. And on it went.
Keanu Reeves did his side of the conversation 20, 25 times – and afterwards he pulled Nancy Meyers aside and he was in tears. !!! Keanu?? In tears?
Reeves said, “He is so unbelievably brilliant. I just can’t deal with it. That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.”
sniff, sniff …
It’s like – you KNOW Jack’s good – but then when you get to actually act with him – you must feel what that really means.
Keanu! Like the whole exerience of the movie blew him away and strrrretched him. I think that is amazing. And it’s good for Keanu, you know? I don’t mean to sound all condescending about it, but, I mean, an actor who is generally perceived not to be in the same league as the other actors in this movie — and he DID it. He did. He made his mark in that picture, at least to me he did.
I view him differently as an actor BECAUSE of his performance in that movie.
I know!! I absolutely love that you and I are raving about Keanu Reeves of all people right now. haha
But I so agree: after being Neo in the Matrix, etc., and being this big huge star – I thought he was really humble in this one, and really willing to play second-fiddle to Nicholson and Keaton.
So I know!! I love him too – so watch for that scene in the doctor’s office tracey, when you “wallow” this weekend – the one where Nicholson starts to almost break down and he acts if it’s normal, etc etc … and watch Keanu! Just this open listening kind face.
Really nice.
I’m sorry – I’m still laughing that you and I are validiating Keanu’s growth-spurt as an actor. hahaha But I’m so sincere!!!
Amanda Peet is something special. That is all.
i agree with everything except keanu. i don’t think he was fantastic, i just think he was elevated by the script and other actors. he wasn’t bad but you can have a lot of fun imagining other better actors in that part. just try it for a second.
now try and imagine anyone other than keaton, nicholson, or peet. ain’t gonna work. also, wasn’t wacky about macdormand which still surprises me.
but i cried like a baby and it is a great movie.
DBW – well, at least you didn’t say “and then they joined as one”, etc. etc.
LOL! I love the internets.
im with ladies about Keanu…his subtle sexiness lets us (and her) see her character as a sexual being…ive always been acloset Keanu lover..and dont really care if he’s good becise i liek to look at him..Hollywood has a history of good-looking movie stars…who then get used well..i think its true of both Lana Turner and Ava Gardner and Rita Hayworth…their beauty eventually adds up to something…i like that..im attracted to it. And Amanda Peet..so right..she is a woman of substance..did anyone see Igby Goes Down? Wonderful but overlooked film…she’s fantastic and hot as well. Plus it brings up my obsesion with the Culkin boys..all of them!
How about Diane Keaton’s moment after their evening of sex – and he’s gonna leave to go sleep in the other room – which devastates her – but she still is so so happy, but also so so sad – at the same time- it’s genius – and she says, “This was a great night for me.”
Simple line, right? Keaton makes it as genius and as deep as fuckin To be or not to be.
She’s wondrous.
Women her age NEVER get to be leading ladies. Or if they do – if an older person has a romance – it’s seen as kind of cute or quaint.
But Something’s Gotta Give is wrenching – wrenching in its joy and its sadness. I really relate to that Keaton character. I’m not 60 yet but I will be someday, and I really see myself in her.
Although I hate turtlenecks.
i didn’t believe the hoopla about this movie, and so my roommate started watching it herself whilst i did homework up on my loft. five minutes or less into it, the ancient history book lay by itself…
great, great film. and you’re right, it was a great role for keanu. and nicholson. and keaton. and peet. and i could keep going, but you know what i mean…
Sheila — I had to go to work, but I was laughing the whole way about the same thing: that you and I are commending Keanu with our little pat-on-the-head commentary here! Hahaha! I’m such an ass.
Like he was a good boy and I’m sending him to bed with a cookie and glass of milk.
Um, that’s “A glass of milk.”
Hm. You know, whenever I’ve seen Keanu, I’ve liked him in the smaller stuff – smaller roles, smaller movies. It’s the star turns that tend to screw things up for him, almost like he HAS to be a star and “nail the scene.”
Best of the Badness
I don’t follow film closely enough, don’t know the craft enough to offer more than the amateur’s “liked it/didn’t” sort of critiques. In a way, it’s almost like beer – I can tell the difference between good beer and bad but am not much of a consumer …