RudeRuth

We should all own a bakery, we should all live in a great country house, and we should all have to choose between Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. I'm just saying. (By the way, what the heck happened to Martin's face? Can you say Botox?) It was refreshing to watch actors who look like my friends and me, and it was refreshing that the nudity in the film was male-type (a well-fed male-type at that, though disappointingly I read that Alec had a body double). It was refreshing to watch Streep's character do to Baldwin's trophy wife what the trophy wife did to her. My favorite character is the older daughter's fiancée (actor John Kaminski). This guy and the beautiful house (what I wouldn't give to fall asleep by the pool) are the main reasons to see the film.

I was 14 years old in 1961, just a couple of years younger than the girl here. A couple of years later, I too was involved with an older married man. (But not to worry, the next year I entered hippiedom and all was very, very different.) What I'm trying to say is, "Been there, done that" … except in my case it was Evansville, Indiana and not London. Too bad. Anyway, I was not as sophisticated as this 16 year old (neither was he, by the way) but I reveled in the mystery and adventure of the adult world … also the lies and deceit. The thing is, now that I'm an Aging Hippy, Retired, the age difference of the girl/man couple disturbed me. I was also disturbed by the acceptance of the parents. The movie was well made, the actors do a terrific job, and it made me think. My reaction is my own personal bugaboo. Just thought I'd put it out there.

Girl meets boy, boy dumps girl, girl meets other boy, other boy and girl are platonic, other boy and girl fall in love. Sterling cast and a proved plot line (if done well). Unfortunately, this movie was not done well. This movie was dull, dull, dull. There was no spark in the dialogue or spark from the stars. There is a marvelous cast, but they were all, everyone one of them, dead on arrival, phoning in their performance, absent without leave. You get my drift. Granted, the dialogue was bad, but it was worse than just bad dialogue. We've all seen good actors deliver bad lines like they were golden. I blame the director. Yeah, that's it. He did it. Then, to add to the wasted time, when I went to rate the movie, I had already seen it, but I had no recollection of it at all. That's when you know the movie is a void