by Frank Calvillo
Every year, there’s at least one holiday-themed film hoping to become a treasured classic for years to come, or at least cash in on that year’s season through ticket sales. This year, Love the Coopers makes its bid for such a status as the all-star ensemble opens in wide release ahead of the holiday season.
Love the Coopers focuses on the different members of the Cooper clan, a loving Pittsburgh family gathering together on Christmas Eve. In spite of the holiday, though, it seems every family member is going through some sort of crisis, preventing them from fully embracing the joy of the season.
With over a dozen cast members in central and secondary roles, there are more than a couple of subplots at hand throughout the film, some of which are more intriguing than others. So rather than write the typical kind of review, I thought I would have a little fun and rank the half-dozen plots within Love the Coopers in order from worst to best.
6. The least involving storyline belongs to Hank Cooper’s (Ed Helms) struggle to deal with his divorce from the shrewish Angie (Alex Borstein), being a single father to his three children and struggling to find work after being laid off from his job taking family portraits. The problem here is that despite Helms’ game attitude, there doesn’t seem to be a lot for him to work with. We never know who Hank really is or why we should feel for him other than the fact that he’s played by a likeable actor. For a character trying to deal with as much as this one is, Hank feels incredibly minimized and virtually forgotten about.
5. It’s odd that Hank’s kids Charlie (Timothee Chalamet) and Bo (Maxwell Simkins) get more heft added to their storyline, especially given the incredibly bland nature of it. Bo loves his brother, in spite of the fact that Charlie mostly ignores him. He loves him so much, though, that he makes it his mission to get his brother a kiss from Lauren (Molly Gordon), the girl of his dreams. There’s absolutely nothing remotely interesting about this storyline. It seems that even the filmmakers knew this given their desperate turning to devices such as “what if” scenarios and Charlie’s intense perspiration to mask a lack of story.
4. As the two main figures presiding over the Cooper clan, Sam (John Goodman) and Charlotte (Diane Keaton) are going through the roughest time in their long marriage and intend on separating once the holidays are over. This storyline is rather sad to watch; not because of the content, but rather because of the lack of it. Keaton and Goodman have such strong chemistry and their scenes together are great to watch. It’s just a shame that we are only told of their struggles in pieces too vague to actually come to any kind of conclusion. Great acting can do a lot, but in this case, it just doesn’t do enough.
3. At long last, a storyline with two interesting characters and just the right amount of backstory to make us actually care about who we are looking at. Eleanor Cooper (Olivia Wilde) has landed home, but is reluctant to leave the airport and go home to face criticism from Charlotte about the current state of her life. When she meets Joe (Jake Lacy), whose flight out has been delayed, the two begin talking about why their lives are the way they are. On a whim, Eleanor decides to pass Joe off as her fiance and bring him home for in an effort to ward off another unhappy Christmas. Wilde and Lacy are incredibly matched and the script gives them enough great scenes so that their story always rings fresh and true. The pair may get lost in the shuffle when they arrive at the Cooper’s, but by this point, their story has already pretty much won us over.
2. One of the more usual storylines belongs to the disenchanted Emma (Marisa Tomei), the younger sister of Charlotte, who is caught shoplifting a brooch from a local department store and is being driven to the local precinct by Officer Williams (Anthony Mackie). It was tough to know what to expect from this pairing, but I was surprised by the places it went. As it turns out, Emma is a psychologist and proceeds to poke into the reasons behind Officer Williams’ exterior, which is cold even by cop standards. Tomei is naturally great here, but it’s Mackie who steals the majority of their scenes together with a steely look and carefully timed emotion. Their relationship may be destined to be nothing more than passing, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t rich in meaning.
1. By far the best plot within Love the Coopers belongs to Bucky (Alan Arkin) and Ruby (Amanda Seyfried). The opinionated Bucky makes it a ritual to eat at the same diner every day in an effort to be waited on by the enchanting Ruby, with whom he has developed a special friendship. It’s a friendship that may soon be coming to an end however, when Ruby announces her intention of leaving Pittsburgh. There’s a bit of melancholic sadness in this storyline, but it’s instantly eclipsed by the beauty of it. I loved watching these two people from distinctly opposite ends of the spectrum not only find common ground, but be able to develop a deep and meaningful bond out of it. Bucky and Ruby’s storyline is a true testament to the power of souls disregarding age, class or background to find a real and unshakeable connection.
Love the Coopers features a nice holiday-themed soundtrack that favors little-used renditions of proven classics and Steve Martin’s continuous narration does give the film a great storybook-like feel to it.
As is the case with each passing Christmas itself, Love the Coopers is a mixed bag. There are a number of moments full of frenzied chaos that don’t pay off the way they should. Yet there are also moments so intimate and special that simply couldn’t happen at any other time besides that special time at the end of every year.
