Joaquin Phoenix makes or breaks this movie, its impact so depends on his performance. He is Leonard Kraditor, son of Jewish immigrants who run a dry cleaning business, and he lives with them. And naturally they hope their son becomes the heir to the business. But, as often happens with the younger, enlightened generation, Leonard isn't looking forward to that prospect.
But Leonard is a troubled man beyond his dry cleaning prospects. As the movie opens we see him jumping into the bay, with all his clothes on, to drown himself. But he backs out, surfaces, and passersby pull him out. Seems he had been engaged but circumstances caused the prospective bride to pull out, and it devastated him. He gets home and his mother asks, "leonard, why are you wet?" But he just goes about his business.
And those facts with the opening scene set the stage for everything else that follows in the movie. Leonard has some issues. He doesn't seem to know what honesty is. He makes up stories as benefits him at the moment, mostly to avoid a confrontation. At one point he is off to a business lunch meeting that his parents value as important, he gets distracted, follows a pretty girl, tells her he is headed to Manhattan also, rides the train then walks with her, and when he gets home makes up a story to cover himself. He seems to have no integrity nor respect for what others need.
Gwyneth Paltrow is Michelle, the pretty blond living in the unit next to his unit, and the one he follows to Manhattan. He is absolutely smitten with her, nothing else in the world matters to him. Even though she tells him "you don't want me, I am screwed up." Presently she is seeing a married man who is a wealthy attorney in the law office where she works.
The second "lover" the title refers to is Vinessa Shaw as Sandra Cohen. Her Jewish family is developing a partnership with Leonard's and both sets of parents function as match-makers, wanting Leonard and Sandra to marry. It would be good for them and good for the business relationship between the families, certainly the old world way of thinking.
To us, the audience, we see that Leonard should drop his attraction to Michelle and go with Sandra, she is pretty and sweet, and she obviously likes Leonard. But this movie is not about logic and wise choices, it is a study of a flawed character that seems unable to use logic and to make wise choices.
The whole cast is good, but Phoenix is superb in a difficult role to get right.
SPOILERS: Leonard finds himself in the position of having Sandra as a lover, and still holding out hope that he can win Michelle's affection. When it appears that she has convinced him she only thinks of him as a great friend, almost a brother, her married lover fails once again to leave his wife and family. So in grief she gives in to Leonard on the roof of their building. Both of them starry-eyed dreamers, Leonard convinces her they will both fly off to San Francisco and start a new life together. They will do it right away. Leonard gets tickets, buys an engagement ring, all the while telling is parents what they want to hear. He sneaks out of a party to leave and meet Michelle. But when she shows up, she tells him she is not going. Her married lover says he left his wife and they will be a couple. Devastated, Leonard walks the Brighton Beach boardwalk, throws the ring away in its box, contemplates his options. Finally he picks up the ring, goes back to the party, and proposes to Sandra, who is clueless about Leonard's inner conflicts. Leonard's mother smiles.
But Leonard is a troubled man beyond his dry cleaning prospects. As the movie opens we see him jumping into the bay, with all his clothes on, to drown himself. But he backs out, surfaces, and passersby pull him out. Seems he had been engaged but circumstances caused the prospective bride to pull out, and it devastated him. He gets home and his mother asks, "leonard, why are you wet?" But he just goes about his business.
And those facts with the opening scene set the stage for everything else that follows in the movie. Leonard has some issues. He doesn't seem to know what honesty is. He makes up stories as benefits him at the moment, mostly to avoid a confrontation. At one point he is off to a business lunch meeting that his parents value as important, he gets distracted, follows a pretty girl, tells her he is headed to Manhattan also, rides the train then walks with her, and when he gets home makes up a story to cover himself. He seems to have no integrity nor respect for what others need.
Gwyneth Paltrow is Michelle, the pretty blond living in the unit next to his unit, and the one he follows to Manhattan. He is absolutely smitten with her, nothing else in the world matters to him. Even though she tells him "you don't want me, I am screwed up." Presently she is seeing a married man who is a wealthy attorney in the law office where she works.
The second "lover" the title refers to is Vinessa Shaw as Sandra Cohen. Her Jewish family is developing a partnership with Leonard's and both sets of parents function as match-makers, wanting Leonard and Sandra to marry. It would be good for them and good for the business relationship between the families, certainly the old world way of thinking.
To us, the audience, we see that Leonard should drop his attraction to Michelle and go with Sandra, she is pretty and sweet, and she obviously likes Leonard. But this movie is not about logic and wise choices, it is a study of a flawed character that seems unable to use logic and to make wise choices.
The whole cast is good, but Phoenix is superb in a difficult role to get right.
SPOILERS: Leonard finds himself in the position of having Sandra as a lover, and still holding out hope that he can win Michelle's affection. When it appears that she has convinced him she only thinks of him as a great friend, almost a brother, her married lover fails once again to leave his wife and family. So in grief she gives in to Leonard on the roof of their building. Both of them starry-eyed dreamers, Leonard convinces her they will both fly off to San Francisco and start a new life together. They will do it right away. Leonard gets tickets, buys an engagement ring, all the while telling is parents what they want to hear. He sneaks out of a party to leave and meet Michelle. But when she shows up, she tells him she is not going. Her married lover says he left his wife and they will be a couple. Devastated, Leonard walks the Brighton Beach boardwalk, throws the ring away in its box, contemplates his options. Finally he picks up the ring, goes back to the party, and proposes to Sandra, who is clueless about Leonard's inner conflicts. Leonard's mother smiles.