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Something’s Gotta Give starring Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson & Keanu Reeves: How A Romantic Comedy Ought to Be

Posted on August 7, 2014 Written by ripitup

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Something's Gotta Give movie poster
Image via movieposter.com.

I’m a huge fan of writer/director Nancy Meyers. It started with What Women Want (starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt), a blast of a romantic comedy with fantasy elements. It’s one of my favorite romantic comedies of all time, though if I had to talk percentages that movie is 80% hilarity and 20% romance. Something’s Gotta Give is a bit more romantic, though the balance is probably more 60% comedy and 40% romance.

It’s safe to call Meyers a superstar when it comes to romcom writer/directors. She writes great stories, directs while remaining honest to her characters and casts A-listers. She usually rocks the box office too. Other star-clad and hilarious Nancy Meyers romcoms include It’s Complicated (with Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin) and The Holiday (with Jude Law, Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet and Jack Black.) Both are recommended, though of these two, I prefer The Holiday. Something’s Gotta Give Premise: Erica Barry (Diane Keaton) is a beautiful, accomplished and divorced playwright with a house in the Hamptons. Harry Sanborn (Jack Nicholson) is a 60-something infamous rich bachelor with a reputation for not dating women over 30. Normally, these two would never meet.

But when Erica’s daughter Marin (Amanda Peet) brings Harry to her mother’s house for a weekend getaway, Erica also happens to be there with her sister Zoe (Frances McDormand), and hilarity ensues: Erica pretty much approves of nothing about him, and Zoe sees this as a fascinating opportunity to study the relationships of men and women, and why men tend to go for much younger women. Harry can’t wait to get out of there, but when he has a heart attack right before they can have sex, he is rushed to the nearest hospital where his doctor turns out to be the gorgeous, younger Julian (Keanu Reeves). All three women are pretty smitten by how nice and pretty he is, but he is taken by Erica, whose plays he is a fan of.

Harry is in a rush to go back to the city, but with his health at risk, Julian only allows him to stay at a nearby place for a couple of weeks, which to Erica’s horror, means her house. With everyone back to the city for work, she’s left alone with Harry, and quickly discovers he is a lot more fun, charming and intelligent than she gave him credit for. And to Harry’s dismay, she’s the most interesting and fun woman he has ever met. With a growing friendship and attraction, they will have to deal with their feelings for each other, as well as where Marin, Julian, and their outlooks on romance stand on all of this. After all, Harry doesn’t know how to be a boyfriend, and Julian is the ultimate catch. What does a woman have to do, especially with a play to write?

 

* Something’s Gotta Give is original, hilarious, honest and a little quirky. And if you pay attention, it’s also a fun, modern love story for any age. The movie makes astute observations on how we can’t help when, who or how we fall for, as well as what it means to be single (and dating) in the modern age of divorce and Internet. Of course if you want to get all cynical, you can call this movie superficial in many ways. Sure, there are health problems, but who doesn’t? Everybody is either rich, or making a decent living in NYC. Marin takes antidepressants because she’s an emotional “child” of divorce but her parents broke up when she was 23.

So apart from a couple of romantic and age-related health problems, everything is peachy. So if you do want a depressed outlook on life, go watch 21 Grams. It’s a very powerful, depressing and solid movie where no one is happy. And they deal with a lot of heavy stuff. If you want a more realistic romance where people aren’t rich, or all that healthy, watch Forget Me Not, which happens to be one of my favorite romances, by the way. It’s just not that light or optimistic. But if you are ready to dive into the typical (but extremely well-written) world of romantic comedy with a more dose of reality than most (Nicholson gets to lie on the gurney a lot, and being a lovely, smart person (Julian’s character) with brilliant looks doesn’t guarantee your happy ending) where the road to the happily-ever-after is just rocky (and funny) enough, don’t miss Something’s Gotta Give.

Fun Info About Cast and Movie:

–       Diane Keaton was nominated for an Oscar for her role. She and Nicholson were nominated for Best Actress and Actor (in musical or comedy) at the Golden Globes; Diane won.

–       The budget was 80 million, but the movie made$124,728,738 domestically, and a total of $266,728,738 (boxofficemojo.com.)

–       You can download the screenplay at sellingyourscreenplay.com

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Amanda Peet, comedy, Diane Keaton, It's complicated, Jack Nicholson, Keanu Reeves, keanu reeves somethings gotta give, nancy meyer movies, Nancy Meyers, romance, Something's Gotta Give, somethings gotta give cast, the holiday, What Women Want

It’s Complicated starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin and John Krasinski

Posted on June 8, 2010 Written by ripitup

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It' s Complicated starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin and John Karasinski
It's Complicated starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin and John Krasinski. Written and directed by Nancy Meyers. Nominated for Best Actress and Best Screenplay Golden Globes. Image from: http://api.ning.com/

Jane Adler (Meryl Streep) is a successful restaurant owner. She lives in a beautiful house, has three grown children (played by Zoe Kazan, Caitlin Fitzgerald, Hunter Parrish) great girl friends and a future son-in-love, Harley (John Karasinski) who is already a part of the family. It has taken 10 years but her life is in total balance and comfort. However when she goes to New York for her son Luke’s (Hunter Parrish)’s college graduation, she ends up running into her ex-husband/ the children’s father Jake (Alec Baldwin).

Their twenty-something-year-old marriage has ended when Jake cheated on her with the younger Agness (Lake Bell) and then married her. His relationship with Agness is complicated to say the least: she has a young son from another man and now she is trying to conceive with the 58-year-old Jake. The New York encounter leads to a fun night, followed by sex. Jane is totally freaked out. Her simple life has turned upside down. However, Jake is having the time of his life. Second-time around with Jane is easy-going and a lot of fun. Plus, Jane gets to take revenge: she is now the other woman, just as Agness once has been. However her conscience isn’t that clear. And as if things aren’t weird enough, she realizes she is also attracted to her architect- Adam (Steve Martin) who is building her dream house. Adam is nice, fun and good-looking. Not the mention, he is also divorced and has no problem dating women his age.

So who do you pick? Do you even want to pick? What happens when the kids find out?

This movie is top-notch entertainment. It is a wonderful romantic comedy. It has many emotional moments and more often than not, they are presented in a realistic but funny way. It is not always laugh-out-loud. You will find yourself smiling more often than laughing but it is not to say some scenes won’t bring (laughter) tears to your eyes. Meryl Streep is very likeable and she is at her most beautiful in her 60s. Steve Martin never really had a problem entertaining the movie-goers and while his character is charming and enjoyable, the real comedy was mostly on Alec Baldwin’s character. His Jake is downright hilarious. From his shameless admissions to his faults and flaws, from his acting like a total baby and jealousy crisis, he makes you laugh. It is funny to remember that Alex used to be considered a heartthrob in the 90s. He was fit, looked good and he was married to Kim Basinger. Remember those days? But I think while his looks deteriorated, his acting just got better. My second favorite is Harley- John Karasinski’s loveable son-in-law. He is really nice and he loves the Adler family. But his life gets really complicated as well when he becomes the first to know about the affair. I hadn’t been impressed by him when I watched him in the disaster of a romcom Licence to Wed (also starring Mandy Moore and Robin Williams). However, as he becomes co-pilot to Streep, Baldwin and Martin, he does shine through in his own way.

This movie was made in 2009, another romcom hit by writer/director Nancy Meyers. This is my fourth Nancy Meyers movie and I am one of her biggest fans. Do you recall The Holiday starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Black and Rufus Swell? Or What Women Want starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt? Or Something’s Got to Give starring Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson and Keanu Reeves? All these movies have a pattern: They have an original, different and good screenplays, a spot-on direction and an impressive cast. They all balance romance with comedy well and leave you wanting more.I am positively biased when it comes to writer/directors as opposed to writers and directors alone.

6.7 on imdb. 7 from me. And if we compare it to romantic comedies alone, it is easily an 8 or 9.

Favorite scenes:

–          Alec Baldwin gets caught naked to Steve Martin’s webcam.It’s in the trailer

–          Jake, Jane and Harley- smoking pot together in the bathroom

*Fun note: Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin must have loved working together as they presented the 2010’s Academy Awards together. Although, their combined performances in the movie are much funnier.

Other Posts feat. Alec Baldwin

17 Changes in the Entertainment World: Featuring Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Megan Fox and More

My Sister’s Keeper starring  Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, Jason Patric and Alec Baldwin

The Good Shepherd starring Matt Damon, Robert De Niro, Angelina Jolie and Alec Baldwin

Here are some other romcoms you might enjoy:

It’s a boy/girl thing

Playing by Heart

Enchanted

Just Like Heaven

Pretty Woman

Penelope

He’s just not that into you

Overboard

The Ugly Truth

Yours, mine and ours

You’ve Got Mail

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Alec Baldwin, Caitlin Fitzgerald, comedy, Hunter Parrish, It's complicated, John Krasinski, Lake Bell, meryl streep, Nancy Meyers, romance, Steve Martin, Zoe Kazan

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