Whenever I learn about a movie that has a GREAT cast and also sailed way under the radar (box office/buzz/viewership), I figure what you've got is a project where all the elements ended up being less than the sum of its parts and it just didn't quite work. A.C.O.D. is very much in that category for me. A talented and eclectic cast (Catherine O'Hara, Richard Jenkins, Adam Scott, Jane Lynch, Amy Poehler, etc. etc.) in a film I had never heard of until a year or so ago. What happened?
Well, first of all, it's a movie that doesn't quite fit into an easy niche. It's a comedy, but not a raucous one. There are no "memorable" crazy scenes with grand hijinks. It's a small, talky, sweet and bittersweet movie. Almost apologetic in scale..."excuse me, if you've got time, we have a nice story we'd like to tell you, but only if you have nothing better to do."
It's told almost entirely from the point of view of Adam Scott, a successful restaurateur in a very nice, comfortable long term relationship with Mary Elizabeth Winstead. One day, his younger brother, Clark Duke, announces his engagement to a young lady he's only been dating for a few months. The impending wedding causes Scott to try to address head on with his parents (long time BITTERLY divorced, and both remarried) their need to attend the wedding and to behave themselves.
Seems reasonable enough, but this helpful intent on Scott's part sets of a series of events that brings into question his OWN commitment to HIS relationship and sparks all sorts of trouble with his parents and their new partners. It's all small-scale, though. "Series of events" really means a series of minor hiccups. They are important to these characters, but not really terribly important for the viewer. The film explores some of these messy feelings in a perfectly amusing and amiable way...but nothing is groundbreaking, even though there aren't many films that have addressed this impact of divorce on adult children. In fact, the film is so "on the nose" about this topic, that it introduces us to a writer (Jane Lynch...in an underwritten role even she can't make very funny) who wrote a book about divorced children that featured Adam Scott's character, and who visits him again because she wants to do a follow-up book. This is all just in case we've missed that the movie is about Adult Children of Divorce.
Scott, thank goodness, is very good in the role. Even when he's at his most "unlikable" he's always a pleasant tour guide through the events of the film. His parents are played by O'Hara and Jenkins, and while the two aren't really given enough to do, they are fun nonetheless. Poehler's part is small, and she's been asked to play one of her unlikeable characters. I so much prefer her (and believe her acting) when she's nicer and perkier (a la Lesley Knope) rather than her "bitter" characters which are generic and interchangeable. The cover of the Blu Ray also shows Jessica Alba, who a) is terrible & b) is barely in the film. It says a lot when the far more charming, effective and believable Mary Elizabeth Winstead is nowhere on the cover. Her part is five time the size of Alba's, and she brings a warmth to her role that makes us root for her relationship with Scott. (Oh, and Ken Howard is in the film as O'Hara's new husband; he's actually quite nice in his role.)
A few surprising developments happen. A few fights and moments of conflict. But in the end, it's mostly just been a brisk, pleasant 90 minute diversion. I can't imagine seeing the film again, but I didn't mind spending time with this mostly engaging cast. I see why the movie wasn't a smash-hit; but it's also a shame almost no one has heard of it.
Well, first of all, it's a movie that doesn't quite fit into an easy niche. It's a comedy, but not a raucous one. There are no "memorable" crazy scenes with grand hijinks. It's a small, talky, sweet and bittersweet movie. Almost apologetic in scale..."excuse me, if you've got time, we have a nice story we'd like to tell you, but only if you have nothing better to do."
It's told almost entirely from the point of view of Adam Scott, a successful restaurateur in a very nice, comfortable long term relationship with Mary Elizabeth Winstead. One day, his younger brother, Clark Duke, announces his engagement to a young lady he's only been dating for a few months. The impending wedding causes Scott to try to address head on with his parents (long time BITTERLY divorced, and both remarried) their need to attend the wedding and to behave themselves.
Seems reasonable enough, but this helpful intent on Scott's part sets of a series of events that brings into question his OWN commitment to HIS relationship and sparks all sorts of trouble with his parents and their new partners. It's all small-scale, though. "Series of events" really means a series of minor hiccups. They are important to these characters, but not really terribly important for the viewer. The film explores some of these messy feelings in a perfectly amusing and amiable way...but nothing is groundbreaking, even though there aren't many films that have addressed this impact of divorce on adult children. In fact, the film is so "on the nose" about this topic, that it introduces us to a writer (Jane Lynch...in an underwritten role even she can't make very funny) who wrote a book about divorced children that featured Adam Scott's character, and who visits him again because she wants to do a follow-up book. This is all just in case we've missed that the movie is about Adult Children of Divorce.
Scott, thank goodness, is very good in the role. Even when he's at his most "unlikable" he's always a pleasant tour guide through the events of the film. His parents are played by O'Hara and Jenkins, and while the two aren't really given enough to do, they are fun nonetheless. Poehler's part is small, and she's been asked to play one of her unlikeable characters. I so much prefer her (and believe her acting) when she's nicer and perkier (a la Lesley Knope) rather than her "bitter" characters which are generic and interchangeable. The cover of the Blu Ray also shows Jessica Alba, who a) is terrible & b) is barely in the film. It says a lot when the far more charming, effective and believable Mary Elizabeth Winstead is nowhere on the cover. Her part is five time the size of Alba's, and she brings a warmth to her role that makes us root for her relationship with Scott. (Oh, and Ken Howard is in the film as O'Hara's new husband; he's actually quite nice in his role.)
A few surprising developments happen. A few fights and moments of conflict. But in the end, it's mostly just been a brisk, pleasant 90 minute diversion. I can't imagine seeing the film again, but I didn't mind spending time with this mostly engaging cast. I see why the movie wasn't a smash-hit; but it's also a shame almost no one has heard of it.