This is Jason Alexander's second attempt at directing and its a pretty decent effort. Film is about a 14 year old Jewish boy named Lenny (Ryan Merriman) who lives in New York City in the 1950's and he lost his father a year earlier. His mother Sylvia (Patti Lupone) has remarried to a butcher named Polinsky (Rich Licata) and Lenny does not like him at all. Lenny is going through puberty and wants to see two people having sex. Sylvia and Polinsky decide to send him to her sisters home in Queens for the summer and Lenny agrees. He meets his aunt Norma (Ilana Levine) and his uncle Phil (Peter Onorati) and he runs a grocery store where Lenny will be helping out. Once in Queens he meets Marty (Alex Sobol) and they start hanging out together and Marty invites Lenny to be part of the sex club that he and two other girls (Amy Braverman and Allie Spiro Winn) are part of. The club just talks about sex. Also, Lenny meets a young nurse named Hedy (Gretchen Mol) who lives in the neighborhood and of course all the young boys are infatuated with her. Especially Lenny. The story and script really add nothing new that we haven't seen many times before and their were times during the film that the characters spoke lines that real people just don't say, especially by young and horny teenage males. But the performances are at worst earnest but some are very effective. The lead played by Merriman was crucial to the film and he carries it well. He's a good young actor that definitely has the screen presence to carry this coming of age story. But I also found Mol to be very good as Hedy. She's not a young sexpot or the typical older woman who's going to teach a young boy the lessons of life. Instead, her character comes across as just another young person coming from a broken home. Its a pretty tender performance and its the first one by Mol that has stayed in my memory. Alexander also does a fine job of creating the period of the 1950's with the cars, the haircuts and the clothes. It all comes across well and I don't remember one moment where a scene or a shot that looked staged. He creates the atmosphere of that era very well. Also, during the block party if you take a good look at the couples dancing you will see Alexander in disguise in a cameo! He's wearing a hat and has a beard so look quickly! The material is familiar and while its a little more raunchy than "Summer of '42" it doesn't go the exploitive route and if viewers decide to stick with it then they should see that this film definitely has heart. We've seen it before but I still think that this film can stand up on its own.
Review of Just Looking
