And So It Goes

Just watched this with my mom on a Netflix disc. We both enjoyed this mostly leisurely humorous look at a couple of older leads-Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton-coping with the loss of their spouses while also dealing with one selling his former home as a realtor (Douglas), one trying to not get too depressed while performing songs on stage (Keaton), and both dealing with a young girl-Douglas' son's offspring whose father is about to go to jail for a crime he didn't commit-staying in the grassy retreat neighborhood they live next door in. I'll just now say this was quite humorous and touching if not hilarious or too dramatic. Director Rob Reiner gives a nice measured pace throughout and appears himself as Keaton's pianist accompanist with an obvious bad hair job! I also liked Frances Sternhagen as Michael's fellow real estate work mate, and that girl played by Sterling Jerins. So on that note, And So It Goes is worth a look.

"In every heart there is a room/A sanctuary safe and strong/To heal the wounds from lovers past/Until a new one comes along." Billy Joel

Respectfully depicting romance with sixty something's is as challenging as getting someone other than Jack Nicholson to play the male lead. Director Rob Reiner in An So It Goes has achieved the near impossible by having Michael Douglas do better than Jack by underplaying a crusty but ultimately dear real estate agent, Oren Little, a widower selling his own 8 million dollar home somewhere in Fairfield, Connecticut.

With Diane Keaton for the love interest singing in a lounge (Frankie Valli plays the owner!) a sweet range of Rodgers & Hart, Irving Berlin, and Jimmy van Huesen tunes, Reiner has two Oscar-winning performers who mostly underplay the attraction that takes them out of the clichéd situation of "hate then love" into a more reasonable slow growth to affection. Writer Mark Andrus, who knows of these matters from writing As Good as It Gets, in which Jack gets his reality check also from Keaton, offers subplots without the usual screaming and insults. However, make no mistake, the plot is as predictable as it gets.

Oren inherits his hitherto unknown granddaughter, Sarah (Sterling Jerins), from a prison-bound ex-junkie son, Luke (Scott Shepherd). Neighbor Leah (Keaton), finding in Sarah the granddaughter she never had, sometimes seems to question that she could have feelings for such a meathead as Oren. When Oren accurately reflects me at my most clueless, I temper my criticism of clichés.

Because Douglas himself has had major challenges with his son, Cameron--a drug addict still doing time--authenticity pours out of Douglas, who gives a believable performance as the conflicted father/grandfather. In real life Douglas called himself a "bad father," so I award him points for honesty then and courage for his depiction now.

Although I would have preferred more depth in Oren's relationship with Luke, Andrus and Reiner go enough into Oren's growing love for Sarah and his appreciation for Leah. With no new story creativity, the seasoned actors make the plot combinations reasonable. Even the minor characters defy their stereotypes, headed by Frances Sternhagen as Oren's real-estate partner with a penchant for cigarettes and sardonic repartee with Oren. Hints of the screwball comedy! She's that good.

Reiner should be applauded for toning down the bad jokes usually accompanying Social-Security-eligible lovers. However, I don't believe Douglas would forsake Catherine Zeta-Jones for Keaton. That's the reality we know. And so it goes.

The story itself is pretty simple. The characters are kind of simple too (at least the one played by Michael Douglas). But the way they play (off each other), is phenomenal. There is something to the actors, which we know they are able to charm us and that they have the ability to take things to another level. And that is what they are doing here, elevating the movie itself.

There have been a couple of movies, where the main character is unlikeable at first. And this "method" makes sense, but only if a really strong actor is playing that role. Some things might go a bit too smooth, but overall you know where this is going. It's a nice movie, with overall good acting and superb acting by our two leads.

I have enjoyed Keaton and Douglas for years - I'm not that far behind them in the birthdays I've celebrated. And this movie is no exception. My wife and I found wonderful texture in the use of minor plot points to enhance the larger story. For instance - the stray dog which at first is disliked and then accepted...the metaphor of caterpillar and butterfly. It was all very nicely done in a story that evolved at a leisurely pace and with the layers one would expect in a life. As person expecting to see fewer years than I have already seen I appreciate films that reflect some of what I have experienced - and some of which I wish I had experienced. Movies such as these remind us, also, of the value of looking ahead to what life can hold no matter the number of years that have crinkled your brows.

It's easy to assume the worst of And So It Goes. It looks like every other generic "comedy" that's been hastily slapped together to appeal to a more mature audience - the kind of film in which, these days, respected veterans of the silver screen appear in order to finance their retirement. Heck, this isn't even the first time Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton have popped up in such "comedies": the former played an aging Lothario in Last Vegas, while Keaton kicked off the whole sub-genre in Something's Gotta Give, and most recently appeared in The Big Wedding. The good news is that And So It Goes somehow manages to work anyway. It's predictable and occasionally not funny at all, but when it settles into its groove, the weight of age and experience of the two lead characters contributes quite a bit to their inevitable romance.

Oren Little (Douglas) is a cynical, cantankerous old man who's never recovered from the death of his beloved wife many years ago. As a result, he's pushed almost everyone away, including his estranged, ex-junkie son Luke (Scott Shepherd). While trying to sell off his family home so he can retire in Canada, Oren moves into a lakeside apartment complex he owns. There, he meets Leah (Keaton), an aspiring lounge singer who can never get all the way through a song without bursting into tears at the thought of her own deceased husband. On his way to a stint in jail, Luke begs Oren to take care of his daughter Sarah (Sterling Jerins) - a task which Oren promptly palms off to Leah.

The plot, as you might imagine, marches on predictably from here: Oren and Leah, forced to spend more time together, begin to soften towards each other. He realises she's smart, spunky and a great cook; she sees that he's not just a grumpy, irascible ball of hatred. It's sometimes hard to take too seriously the way in which And So It Goes pulls off its so-called 'character development': can a casual bigot like Oren, who tosses off rather offensive remarks with little care for what others might think, really be trusted around other human beings? Much less deliver a baby, as he's called upon to do in one of the film's more surreal moments?

And yet, the film manages to find its own emotional groove anyway. The connection between Oren and Leah, both of whom have lost the first loves of their lives, is deep in a way other meet-cute romances aren't. You suspect that the reason they fall for each other is as much due to mutual attraction as to the fact that the other person loves so deeply and so truly.

Both actors lend the considerable weight of their experiences and personalities to their roles: Douglas gives Oren a great deal of charm, and makes his friendship with his old biddy of an assistant Claire (Frances Sternhagen) shine through the insults they casually trade. Keaton does what Keaton has always done, and does it very well. She glides through the film, as kooky as the day we first sat up and took notice of her in Annie Hall, and easily sings her tremulous way into Oren's heart - and the hearts of her audiences.

Not by any stretch of the imagination a great film, And So It Goes is nevertheless a mostly enjoyable watch. It won't be a highlight on the CVs of anyone involved: not for director Rob Reiner (who has a supporting role as Leah's hapless accompanist), and certainly not for Douglas and Keaton. But it won't be an abject embarrassment either. You might be hoping for a little more from cast and script and premise, but this is nevertheless a film that - for all its awkward fumbles - deals with the profound ideas of love, loss and second chances in a surprisingly effective way.