There are two reasons to talk about this movie: (1) the movie itself, and (2) Jennifer Aniston's shot at being an actress
(1) the movie is good. It deals with a 30-year old woman, Justine, married to a unexciting husband and living in a mid-sized Texas town. No significant friends or family around to provide relief to this isolated couple with no children.
At no time the movie falls into simplistic ways, never giving easy answers, never judging the characters, just showing them as they are and where they are coming from. You will feel for even the worst of them. Depth is provided by an amazing supporting cast: Mike White and Tim Blake Nelson are amazing and Jake Gyllenhaal is possibly a star on the rise.
Direction is sober but efficient and gives enough comical relief to carry you throughout the whole thing without losing interest or feeling too depressed. It is not a sad movie, despite the subject.
(2) Jennifer Aniston cannot act at this level. That is the main problem, she does a decent job in this movie, but her part is too important for her. She is supposed to carry the whole story on her shoulders and she is obviously limited by a lack of screen presence and charisma. An actress like Robin Wright Penn could do it, Julianne Moore could do it... She cannot.
Obviously, Aniston got a much bigger part in this movie than what she sould have had due to her "Rachel" fame, and not to her acting skills. She is good at doing "Rachel". She might even learn to play difficult parts like this one in the future. But today, she is not ready and it shows on screen as the comparison with her supporting cast is cruelly not in her favor. She looks like a young actress trying to copy say... Nathalie Baye in Venus Beauté Institus.
Then again, it was a considerable challenge for Aniston, who does, again, a fair, decent job... but not quite the real thing.
7/10 for the movie - 5/10 for Jennifer Aniston
(1) the movie is good. It deals with a 30-year old woman, Justine, married to a unexciting husband and living in a mid-sized Texas town. No significant friends or family around to provide relief to this isolated couple with no children.
At no time the movie falls into simplistic ways, never giving easy answers, never judging the characters, just showing them as they are and where they are coming from. You will feel for even the worst of them. Depth is provided by an amazing supporting cast: Mike White and Tim Blake Nelson are amazing and Jake Gyllenhaal is possibly a star on the rise.
Direction is sober but efficient and gives enough comical relief to carry you throughout the whole thing without losing interest or feeling too depressed. It is not a sad movie, despite the subject.
(2) Jennifer Aniston cannot act at this level. That is the main problem, she does a decent job in this movie, but her part is too important for her. She is supposed to carry the whole story on her shoulders and she is obviously limited by a lack of screen presence and charisma. An actress like Robin Wright Penn could do it, Julianne Moore could do it... She cannot.
Obviously, Aniston got a much bigger part in this movie than what she sould have had due to her "Rachel" fame, and not to her acting skills. She is good at doing "Rachel". She might even learn to play difficult parts like this one in the future. But today, she is not ready and it shows on screen as the comparison with her supporting cast is cruelly not in her favor. She looks like a young actress trying to copy say... Nathalie Baye in Venus Beauté Institus.
Then again, it was a considerable challenge for Aniston, who does, again, a fair, decent job... but not quite the real thing.
7/10 for the movie - 5/10 for Jennifer Aniston