The Sheila Variations

Something's Gotta Give

I've been wanting to write about Something's Gotta Give for some time. I saw it in the movie theatre when it came out, and loved it, but in the past 2 weeks it has catapulted itself up the ladder of my regard, and is now, probably, one of my favorite films.

A couple things about it: It is a formulaic film. Yes. But really, when you think about it, there are only so many stories to be told in this world. There are not 5,000,000 original stories - there are pretty much 4 or 5. Love - war - rejection - betrayal - overcoming fears, etc. I am not so much bothered by a "formula film" if it can make me forget it is a formula. You can have a formulaic plot but if the characters themselves are unforgettable, who the hell cares? Additionally, my own life has fallen into "formulaic" patterns at times, as I'm sure is true for everyone. So - that being said:

To my taste, Something's Gotta Give is one of those beautiful "dying breed" movies. There are a couple of literally laugh-out-loud funny moments, and then there are a couple of scenes which are so heart-wrenching you want to cry. It's like the movies of old before the "genres" were so set in stone. You could have sentiment in a comedy (not treacly sentimentalism, mind you, but true sentiment) without it being an embarrassment. Think of the couple of tender moments in Bringing Up Baby. The pace slows down juuuuuust a little bit, so you can get the sense that something special is happening between these two mis-matched individuals in the middle of all the mania ... and then, boom, the pace picks up again. And they're off. But it's the moments of sentiment that makes the film a long-lasting classic. Without the audience feeling like: "Oh God, these two people need to be together" the movie wouldn't work.

Enough preamble.

Here's the real deal.

Something's Gotta Give, starring Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson, is about two people in their 60s who, inexplicably and inappropriately and inconveniently, fall in love. The deeper implications of the film (for a single girl like me, feeling the BOOM BOOM BOOM of that biological clock in my ears at all times - why do you think I love such loud music??? To drown out that dern clock) are this: You may have to wait until you're 63 to find your mate. It may not happen the way you WANT it to happen, the way you think it SHOULD happen. But you must never discount the fact that it COULD happen. Love is NOT just for the young. Love is not neat. Love is not convenient. Love can mess you UP, dude! Especially if you feel like you have turned your back on all that noise.

If you want to see a miraculous performance, watch Diane Keaton in this movie. I have always loved Diane Keaton, and have missed her very much over the last 10 years or so. She was in the typical "black-out" period that women in their late 40s and 50s go through in Hollywood. No good parts. Nothing. But what's amazing about Keaton (and about a couple of other older actresses I can think of) is that she is still a valid leading woman. Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Julie Christie, Susan Sarandon, Helen Mirren ... there are many more. These are women who can still carry a movie. These are women who just cannot be relegated to "character parts". They are still "leads".

Diane Keaton is like Cary Grant in this respect. Cary Grant was 63 when he retired, and never once did he NOT play a "leading man". And it didn't look like a pathetic move, like an older guy trying to hang on desperately to his youth, (ahem - Michael Douglas - ahem) - No. Cary Grant is, was, and always will be a leading man.

Diane Keaton's got the same thing going on.

And so does Jack Nicholson. I mean, in my opinion, Nicholson can pretty much do anything, but I think of him in As Good As It Gets ... even though he is an OCD wack-job in that film, he is completely believable as a romantic lead. He's got the passion underneath, he's still got the fire, and you WANT to see him "get the girl".

That's pretty much the deal with "leading men". It seems perfectly natural and good and right that they always "get the girl".

Sean Connery will still "get the girl" when he's 80, in my opinion.

Born "leading men" are very rare. Usually that role is reserved for youth, but in rare cases, youth has NOTHING to do with that kind of romantic/sex appeal.

Diane Keaton is a wonder in this film. I was talking with my friend Mitchell about it, who also loved the movie, and he said, "You know, I know it's silly to compare parts, and decide who 'should get the Oscar' - but to my mind, a true accomplishment in acting is when you the audience believe that NOBODY ELSE could play that part. And yes, Charlize Theron in Monster was incredible, and good for her for taking the reins of her own career and all that - it was great work - but I still think that a couple of other actresses could definitely have played that part as well as she did. But NOBODY could have played Diane Keaton's part in Somethings' Gotta Give like she did. It is impossible to picture ANYONE ELSE in that part. It is AMAZING WORK."

Trust me. She is THAT good in this film.

Every moment she has is so delicious, so unpredictable, so HER ... that she doesn't seem to be playing a part at all. It also seems like there could never have been a screenplay for this film, so natural is she. It doesn't sound like her "lines" are "lines" at all. Also, it's a rich performance with everything in it. It's subtle, it's specific, it's FUNNY, it's heart-breaking ... The chick has got it all.

Another thing:

The whole Reds connection. I love Reds, and have seen it a bazillion times. It's 100 hours long or something like that, with too many good scenes to even count. But my favorite scene in the entire extravaganza, is the very very quiet and very very intense scene between Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson, in the beach house on the Cape. Diane Keaton plays Louise Bryant, the bohemian lover of John Reed (played by Warren Beatty). And Jack Nicholson plays Eugene O'Neill. Jack Nicholson has, I think, 2 major scenes in the entire film, it's a supporting role, but it's a knockout. He was nominated for it, and rightly so. I think it's his best work. He lets out a sexy side that I don't think I've ever seen in him before. And it's not the kind of rakish devil-may-care eyebrows-lifted naughty sex appeal that Nicholson usually displays. This is fucking dead serious. He plays a MAN. The scene is out of this world good. I watch it, and feel like I can't even MOVE, as it is going on. They never once raise their voices, I don't think they even kiss, they just sit there ... and talk ... and you can FEEL the passion in the room.

Okay, so there's that background.

Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton have known one another and been dear friends for decades. So to see them here, as 60 year old actors, playing this film, creating these characters, obviously having a BALL with each other, is intensely moving. I think of my own friends, my own actor-friends, and what a pleasure it is to act with my dear friends, to be in a play with people I have known since I was 16 ... It's like there's a shorthand there. If you're acting a love scene with a person you didn't know before getting cast in the play, you've got a bit of back-up work to do, to create an atmosphere where you can "pretend" that you feel comfortable with this person, and intimate. But if you're acting a love scene with someone who is one of your best friends, you can cut to the chase. You already know each other, there's all this HISTORY, all this BACKGROUND ... it makes for very powerful stuff.

That's what I see in the delicious scenes between Keaton and Nicholson. A long long friendship, a deep respect, and ... still ... STILL ... a sense of fun and play with each other. They truly seem to ENJOY one another. How rare is THAT in the movies?? So often you see love stories in movies and it's all about lust and romance and "chemistry". But oh, how rare it is to have a love story where you really get the sense, like you do with some couples in real life, that these two people really ENJOY each other!!

The plot, briefly:

Jack Nicholson plays a hot-to-trot 63 year old man named Harry who owns a hip-hop label and has a philosophy of life which involves him never dating a woman over 30. He's never been married.

He is dating the scrumdiddlyumptious Marin (played by Amanda Peet, who is absolutely lovely in this film, by the way - not just her face, but her acting).

Through various circumstances, he ends up staying the weekend at Amanda Peet's mother's house in the Hamptons. The mother (Erica Barry) is played by Diane Keaton. Erica Barry is a very successful playwright, who has been divorced for many years, never dates, is kind of uptight, and has stopped looking for love. She always wears turtlenecks.

Into her neat perfect uptight house strolls this cigar-smoking guy INSANELY old to be dating her daughter ... and who becomes a bit obsessed with WHY Erica wears "turtlenecks in the middle of the summer".

Hi-jinx ensue.

Since it's a formula, I am sure you can guess what happens, but I will say this: there are a ton of surprises along the way. Mainly because these 2 characters are not formulaic, they seem like real people. Jack Nicholson's character, Harry, is the real surprise. You think he's going to be one way, a complete stereotype, but if you think that, then you will be dead dead wrong.

Frances Macdormand has a small part in it, and I mean ... who the hell is better than Frances Macdormand? I freakin' LOVE that woman, and I want her career. If I had a career that looked just like hers, I would be happy. She is always good.

She plays the sister of Diane Keaton - a women's studies professor at Columbia named Zoe. Now again, you may have stereotypes in your head about anyone who is a "women's studies professor" - as I do - but Macdormand puts those stereotypes on their ears. It is SUCH a funny performance. SO FUNNY. I was rewinding the film constantly the other night, just to catch all of her little responses, her reactions, what she does in the background when she has no lines, but she's just reacting to the insanity around her. It's fabulous.

This past time I watched it I jotted down a couple of quick notes, because I am a lunatic.

This is for anyone (Allison? Mitchell?) who saw the movie and loved it as I do.

Somethings' Gotta Give bullet points

-- Frances Macdormand: My favorite moment she has is when the 3 women are in the emergency room, waiting to hear about Harry's health. They are all talking about something else, and then you see Frances M. see something (which, you find out later, is Nicholson staggering out of his hotel room in a paper gown, with his naked ass on display) - but anyway, they're all talking, and you see Frances' eyes catch onto something, and she suddenly says, with this look of humor and glee on her face: "Yuh-oh."

I can't explain why this moment is so damn funny. You just have to see it.

"Yuh-oh."

-- What the hell was Jon Favreau doing in that movie in such a NOTHING part? His career must be in the toilet. He didn't even do anything interesting with that guy, nothing. Maybe his best scenes were cut.

-- The first dinner scene - between Keaton, Nicholson, Macdormand, and Peet is a masterpiece. A comedic masterpiece. There's SO MUCH GOING ON.

-- Keanu Reeves plays a young doctor at the local hospital (and, surprisingly, he is quite good in it, although it is a small part). He comes out (after Nicholson has the heart attack), and Amanda Peet runs up to him, and Reeves says to her kindly, "Your dad is gonna be okay." Peet replies, "He's not my dad ..." Reeves adjusts, and says, "Oh, I'm sorry. Your granddad is gonna be okay ..."

-- Amanda Peet comes to visit Jack Nicholson in the hospital. Before she leaves, she gives him a tender kiss on the cheek. Now just WATCH the expression on Jack Nicholson's face following that kiss, and you'll see why he is one of our greatest and most beloved actors.

-- Jack Nicholson has one moment when he is sitting all alone, late at night, and talking to himself. It's kind of a self-pitying moment. He sits on the couch, defeated, and says to himself, "Everyone's got plans tonight except for old Har." There's a long pause, and then he says, and I cannot exaggerate how much time Nicholson takes with the next bit: "Old ... old ... old .... old .... Har." This is my actor-observation here: Jack Nicholson has intense stage training. He's got a stage background. People who have stage backgrounds (as opposed to just TV, and just movies) are able to make stuff like 4 consecutive "old"s, real and theatrical and dramatic all at the same time. British actors, for example, with their theatrical background, always seem to have that beautiful blend of the real and the dramatic. Nicholson is one of those rare rare birds. I watch him make those 4 olds real, and specific (each "old" has a different tone - and you think he's going to stop after 3 ... but then he takes a deep breath, and brings out the 4th "old") - and am in awe of his skill and openness.

-- He has a moment which made me guffaw so loudly that I think I might have woken up my neighbords. He's been sneaking through Erica Barry's house while she's gone, looking through her old photo albums. He falls asleep on his bed, literally surrounded by her scrapbooks. Then she comes home - and you can hear the car pulling up the drive. Nicholson jolts himself awake, and FREAKS OUT. Because he will be SO BUSTED at snooping. I can't describe the moment - basically he falls off the bed with a crash - but it is so genius, so funny, that I HOWL every time I see it.

-- The scene of the "midnight pancakes" is so powerful, so truthful, that it gives me chills. He's great, she's great - you're watching a pas de deux between two MASTERS.

-- Their post-coital moment is ... just a delight. They're in their 60s. They just had great sex. She hasn't had sex in years, and he has never had sex with anyone who was born before 1972. They are both a bit in shock. They don't know what to say. Great scene.

-- One thing to notice, and Mitchell - this moment, for me, absolutely proves your point: When Harry leaves her bed to go back to his room, she says to him - and the line is this: "This was a great night for me." That's it, okay? That's the line. "This was a great night for me." WATCH what she does with that line, and tell me any other actress who could make it come alive like she does. Phenomenal.

-- Watch for the great female doctor in the New York ER. She has 2 scenes, that's it, but she is terrific. Terrific. I want to write her a letter. That's the way to have a cameo in a movie. You get the sense that she has a whole life outside the movie, she doesn't stop BE-ing when her scene ends ... Great actress, obviously - who knows if we will ever see her again, but definitely watch for her.

-- One of the greatest break-up scenes I've ever seen. It's just RAW. I have been Diane Keaton in that moment. It's not neat, or actor-ish, on either side ... and it's one of those great examples of why this movie is special. Neither of these people are ready to accept love into their lives, and yet, uh-oh, here it is. Freakouts ensue. This is very real. Diane Keaton is amazing in this scene.

-- Diane Keaton's 5-day long crying jag is one of the funniest montages I have ever seen in my entire life. I cannot stop laughing. And yet ... she is SOBBING. God, though. It's so human, so real, and yet so over-the-top. When I came home from Ireland, I was like that for a good 3 days. It's hilarious. But so real while you're in it.

-- And the Paul Simon song "Learn how to fall" over the last little scene is just killer.

It's a wonderful film. It's in the Sheila Canon now.

Posted by sheila