A caring boyfriend is out for a day with his girlfriend, an actress. Love is in the air and the pair exchange constant lovey-dovey chat throughout the day. When the actress sees a load of cows she goes all soft over them until she is told that the building next door to their field is an abattoir. Her sobbing and anguish lasts all the way home but it is not long before her newfound enthusiasm for protecting such animals becomes yet another publicity drive for her.
A funny and apparently quite personal film from writer/director Baer who draws on his own experience of dating an actress to produce a snapshot of life with such a person. The final lines of dialogue are quite accurate as it is hard to believe that such a person exists but yet it does have an air of only slightly exaggerated reality about it. The actress of the title is emotionally quite unstable, as if she is "on" and performing at each moment. No matter what outward appearance of selflessness she has, it is never long before she comes round to being all about herself.
Baer's script is good and the closing credits are a nice touch. His script is funny and he does well to get good performances out of the actors and I liked the editing in of snippets of other scenes as a device to give background and depth (or rather lack of it I guess) to the characters. Coffey underplays well and wisely keeps his character straight while letting Watts be the film. Her performance of a self-centre woman is convincing and funny. It is a difficult mix to get right because pushing it too far to make the point could have seen it overplay it or get hammy, but as it is she gets it mostly spot on.
Overall then a personal and funny film that is well put together and is driven by an enjoyable performance from Watts as the actress of the title.
