The Baxter (2005)

In the style of a Howard Hawks comedy, Baxter follows the twists and turns of a young man's life during the two weeks before his wedding.

Director:

Michael Showalter

Writer:

Michael Showalter

Stars:

Michael Showalter, Elizabeth Banks, Michelle Williams

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Showalter	...	Elliot Sherman
Elizabeth Banks	...	Caroline Swann
Michelle Williams	...	Cecil Mills
Justin Theroux	...	Bradley Lake
Zak Orth	...	Wendall Wimms
Michael Ian Black	...	Ed
Catherine Lloyd Burns	...	Stella
Peter Dinklage	...	Benson Hedges
Paul Rudd	...	Dan Abbott
Katharine Powell	...	Sonya Simmons
Jon DeVries	...	Alan Swann
Donna Mitchell	...	Judy Swann
Haviland Morris	...	Kate Lewis
David Wain	...	Louis Lewis
Jim DeMarse	...	Leonard Sherman

Storyline

In the style of a Howard Hawks comedy, Baxter follows the twists and turns of a young man's life during the two weeks before his wedding.

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Plot Keywords:

wedding | otter tail county minnesota | church | jogging | buddy | 

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Taglines:

A romantic comedy for anyone who's ever been dumped.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for brief sexual humor and some drug references

Details

Official Sites:

IFC [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 April 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bakouri apo kounia

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$37,437 (USA) (26 August 2005)

Gross:

$181,872 (USA) (14 October 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

IFC Films, IFC Productions, Plum Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Michael Ian Black and Catherine Lloyd Burns play a couple named "Ed" and "Stella". These are the names of two television shows starring Michael Ian Black.

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Goofs

In the opening wedding scene, the father of the bride (Caroline) places her hand in the groom, Elliott's hand. In the second version toward the film's end, he doesn't.

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Quotes

Louis Lewis: I hear bears can smell menstrual blood from a mile away.

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Crazy Credits

There are two additional scenes after the movie ends. After the first half of credits, a new scene appears showing the ending from the perspective of Dan (Paul Rudd), who finds himself a Baxter as well. After all of the credits is an additional scene with Elliot's friends from the bar after he left, telling another story.

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Connections

References Batman (1989)

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Soundtracks

"B-L-U-E"
Written by Craig Wedren and Adam Moreno (as Adam Morenoff)
Melt Listen Music (BMI), Adam Morenoff (BMI)
Performed by Craig Wedren & Adam Moreno (as Mr. Blue)
Produced by Craig Wedren
Mixed by Lee Mars

User Reviews

An absolutely delightful sort of aside in the whole romantic comedy industry

The Baxter This is probably one of the most underrated films I've seen yet, considering that it's style is basically generic romantic comedy (meaning the makers underrated it themselves), it's gotten little to no viewership... I never even heard of it before I picked it up off the wall (it was next in line).

Anyway, you know all those movies about how the man and the woman love each other but can't figure it out, so the woman almost marries the wrong person before the man crashes the wedding and sweeps her away? Well this is the story of the guy left at the altar, and his search for the "right woman" as well when his character is defined as the safe, content "nice guy" that women are supposed to erroneously try to marry when their lively romantic relationships go awry. Basically that's the long way of saying that this guy is an accountant who spends his time reading the dictionary as a private pleasure, and now he realizes that he'd like to actually get the girl too.

What's absolutely wonderful about this film is that Elliot knows that his problem is that he's such a harmless nice guy, but he knows that being a harmless nice guy is a really great thing to be if you don't take into account that that means losing a lot of relationships because women are more interested in romance risk-takers. So he has to battle his own personality with his own personality while his friends give him TERRIBLE advice that sounds good (we've been there, now haven't we?), he surrounds himself with completely superficial people because superficiality is the only way he knows to fit in, and he totally doesn't notice the direct and not-so-subtle advances from the "right girl" who is, also, way too nice to take risks as well.

In short, it's an absolutely delightful sort of aside in the whole romantic comedy industry, but still uses a lot of the tropes and techniques usual to the form to keep it simple and enjoyable for everyone.

--PolarisDiB