The Baxter

A quirky premise and some delightful performances made this film refreshingly true to its stated goal. Showalter is charmingly awkward and perplexed throughout, as a "baxter," one of the guys who are always left alone at the altar when their brides' true loves return to abduct them. Michelle Williams is exceptional in her role, and Jon DeVries and Peter Dinklage both contribute some great comedic moments.

A few sour notes rang out, including Elizabeth Banks' performance as Caroline Swann, which seemed confused and inconsistent. But The Baxter's power is in its non-standard take on old romance stereotypes. The impassioned speeches of each reformed lover to his girl are wonderfully recast from the perspective of the safe, nice guy who is our protagonist here. True love for him is not in being a daredevil or a risk-taker, but simply being himself and taking the opportunity that presents itself. As a new kind of romantic comedy that doesn't necessarily play by the rules, The Baxter succeeds in many ways.

Is it just me, or was this an homage to The Apartment (Best Picture – 1960)? Baxter, was played by Jack Lemon in the Billy Wilder classic. I got a feel for it here, but it was a tad shy of a full load for my tastes, but the subtly in places and the "everyone is a Baxter" message were warm and sincere.

Recently I have been spoiled by faster and smother paced silly, love stories by the likes of the Friends' cast, Sandler, and Stiller. Even the classics from the 50's through the 70's often found a more stable pace to encourage us to follow along.

The glacially slow development of the main characters' true desires takes something away from this movie for me. But perhaps that was just the point. Sometimes it takes us to be pushed to the edge to face what we want to do with our love. A little better pacing, a better mixing of the silly and the subtle would have made this an exceptional movie. I will wait hopefully for Michael Showalter's (director/writer ) next effort.

Saw this at the Maine International Film Festival. It shares some characteristics with prime Woody Allen -- an affection for New York (warmly shot) and a sure sense of casting supporting actors.

Is it a ground-breaking comedy? No. But it is thoroughly charming and entertaining and had the audience laughing at all the moments it intended. The truth is, most people identify not with the pretty leads in glossy romantic comedies but with the zhlubs, and this is a film that gives us permission to identify with the zhlubs (without demonizing the pretty people). There aren't a lot of uncynical comedies out there, and this is a welcome one.

It's also valuable for people casting in the New York area -- there are enough engaging performers in here to cast three or four movies.

The Baxter This is probably one of the most underrated films I've seen yet, considering that it's style is basically generic romantic comedy (meaning the makers underrated it themselves), it's gotten little to no viewership... I never even heard of it before I picked it up off the wall (it was next in line).

Anyway, you know all those movies about how the man and the woman love each other but can't figure it out, so the woman almost marries the wrong person before the man crashes the wedding and sweeps her away? Well this is the story of the guy left at the altar, and his search for the "right woman" as well when his character is defined as the safe, content "nice guy" that women are supposed to erroneously try to marry when their lively romantic relationships go awry. Basically that's the long way of saying that this guy is an accountant who spends his time reading the dictionary as a private pleasure, and now he realizes that he'd like to actually get the girl too.

What's absolutely wonderful about this film is that Elliot knows that his problem is that he's such a harmless nice guy, but he knows that being a harmless nice guy is a really great thing to be if you don't take into account that that means losing a lot of relationships because women are more interested in romance risk-takers. So he has to battle his own personality with his own personality while his friends give him TERRIBLE advice that sounds good (we've been there, now haven't we?), he surrounds himself with completely superficial people because superficiality is the only way he knows to fit in, and he totally doesn't notice the direct and not-so-subtle advances from the "right girl" who is, also, way too nice to take risks as well.

In short, it's an absolutely delightful sort of aside in the whole romantic comedy industry, but still uses a lot of the tropes and techniques usual to the form to keep it simple and enjoyable for everyone.

--PolarisDiB

The Baxter (2005) written and directed by Michael Showalter, is a very predictable--but enjoyable--movie.

Director Showalter has cast himself as Elliot Wendall Sherman, "The Baxter." "The Baxter" is the man who, although perfectly decent, gets left behind at the wedding altar when the romantic hero appears at the last possible moment.

Elizabeth Banks plays the elegant Caroline Swann, who falls in love--sort of--with Elliot. Michelle Williams is Cecil Mills, a girl-next-door type who has newly arrived in NYC.

The question, of course, is not what will happen--obvious--but how it will happen. The plot is weakened by unlikely premise that someone like Caroline would consider marrying Elliot.

Michelle Williams is delightful as the innocent young thing, and it would be quibbling to demand cinema verite from this film.

Just enjoy it for what it is--not memorable or ambitious, just pleasant and enjoyable.