It’s hard to pull off a good romantic comedy, treading a line between schmaltzy and moving, cloying and genuinely funny. But with a good script and chemistry within the cast something memorable can happen. Of course this genre has become something of a dumping ground for actors past a certain age in recent years, accomplished stars dropped into a “by the numbers” affair unworthy of them. Enter Christopher Plummer and Shirley MacLaine who between them have a stellar pedigree of acting credits and awards. Are we dealing with another Away From Her or As Good As It Gets or is it another steamer like And So It Goes?
THE MOVIEFred is a recently widowed man who is moved from his home into a smaller apartment by his daughter. He distances himself from his friends and family and loses interest in even leaving his new home. Through a turn of events he meets his neighbor Elsa, a loud, confident character who sweeps into his life and becomes determined to shake him out of his funk. What starts as an antagonistic relationship develops into something deeper.
The summary suggests every trope you would expect from a film of this type and unfortunately there is little surprising beyond this. You get the serendipitous meeting, the conflict between two opposite personalities, the disapproving family members and subplots concerning inheritance, and your rom-com is complete. It’s hard to dislike the film, the leads make a rather sweet pairing even as they go through the motions laid out by the script. They give touching and genuine performances and imbue a wistfulness at times where the film threatens to deliver something more profound but never does. Those moments frustrate as there are deeper and richer tales to tell, where maturity and a lack of time gives people of a certain age an honesty. It’s hinted at here but more for comedic effect or quickly glossed over giving an insubstantial look at love. MacLaine’s character has a mild obsession with La Dolce Vita, the references and glimpses of that film only serve to underline how lacking this effort is.
Plummer nails the forlon old gent as well as the more tender moments where he questions the value of his life and relationship with his wife. MacLaine is equally good as the off-kilter woman, although the web of tales she weaves as part of her character leave her looking marginally suspect in her emotional stability and seem primarily crafted to provide the film with its final shot. But for all the energy and gusto MacLaine brings to blowing the cobwebs off of Fred the writing keeps the characters firmly in check. Any effort on their part is nullified by a script that refuses to push them or the themes of love amongst an older pair. It’s as if the writers were unwilling to let the pair loose for fear one of them might break a hip.
THE PACKAGEThe film has a crisp image for the most part but occasionally slips into looking slightly softer in focus. Unsure if this was an intentional facet of the film, to meander into a Barbara Walters special when things became overly sentimental.
Special features include a decent length Making of featurette which interviews most of the cast as well as people behind the scenes about the film.
THE BOTTOM LINEElsa and Fred treads a fine line between the overly sentimental and the sincerely genuine and veers more towards the latter due to its protagonists. The film is competently put together but the script offers little in the way of surprises, and doesn’t take any risks to show us something deeper about late love blooming amongst an older couple. For a movie about breaking out of the confines of old age it feels remarkably restrained and ends up only serving to showcases how much better the two leads are than the material they were given. Hard to dislike but very forgettable.
