Film review: 'Object of My Affection'
Just when it seemed every romantic comedy was manufactured with a cookie-cutter sameness, along comes playwright Wendy Wasserstein ("The Sisters Rosensweig", "The Heidi Chronicles") and British director Nicholas Hytner ("The Madness of King George") to shake things up a little.
Their refreshingly grown-up collaboration, "The Object of My Affection", is something of a grounded flip side to "My Best Friend's Wedding". Only here, the acerbic gay best friend hasn't been neutered for mass-audience consumption.
While the result makes for a considerably less-than-mainstream proposition and the picture's first half has pacing problems, the consistently smart writing and terrific performances should generate some enthusiastic word-of-mouth, at least in big-city markets.
Based on a novel by Stephen McCauley, the film has changed the first-person male point of view to that of Nina Borowski (Jennifer Aniston), a Brooklyn social worker who offers her spare room to George Hanson (Paul Rudd), a schoolteacher about to be unceremoniously dumped by his smarmy college professor boyfriend, Dr. Joley (Tim Daly).
The fact that Nina and George get along famously doesn't sit quite well with her brash, civil liberties lawyer boyfriend, Vince (John Pankow), especially when she finds out she's pregnant with his child but announces she'd rather have George (with whom she's become smitten) help her raise the baby.
Initially tickled by the idea, George is subsequently faced with making a tough decision when he meets Paul (Amo Gulinello), the very young roommate of a much older theater critic (the always on-the-money Nigel Hawthorne).
A little too heavy on the dramatic element to be labeled a true romantic comedy, "The Object of My Affection" tends to derive its humor from dialogue rather than situation. Although Wasserstein's way with words is always welcome, the film could have benefited from a bit more of the latter.
Still, Hytner's direction is never less than involving, and his cast is uniformly wonderful. Aniston's never been better than as the vulnerable but determined Nina, while Rudd's conflicted George rings three-dimensionally true. Both leads remain appealingly cute without becoming cutesy.
Among the rich support work, Pankow (Cousin Ira on "Mad About You") also manages to tread a fine line between being outspoken and obnoxious; Hawthorne brings a finely tuned wit and grace to his role of the chastened father figure; and Allison Janney (the scene-stealing stumbler in "Primary Colors") and Alan Alda are a blast as Aniston's snooty matchmaking sister and her name-dropping, literary agent husband.
Fine, too, are Daly as Rudd's full-of-himself former flame and Gulinello as the spirited new guy in Rudd's life. As an inside joke for stage buffs, Daly and Hawthorne are joined in a panel discussion putting down contemporary theater by real-life leading lights Alfred Uhry, Christopher Durang and Michael Weller, among others.
THE OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION
20th Century Fox
A Laurence Mark production
A Nicholas Hytner film
Director: Nicholas Hytner
Producer: Laurence Mark
Screenwriter: Wendy Wasserstein
Based on the novel by: Stephen McCauley
Director of photography: Oliver Stapleton
Production designer: Jane Musky
Editor: Tariq Anwar
Costume designer: John Dunn
Music: George Fenton
Music supervisor: Alex Steyermark
Casting: Daniel Swee
Color/stereo
Cast:
Nina Borowski: Jennifer Aniston
George Hanson: Paul Rudd
Vince McBride: John Pankow
Sidney Miller: Alan Alda
Dr. Robert Joley: Tim Daly
Rodney Fraser: Nigel Hawthorne
Constance Miller: Allison Janney
Paul James: Amo Gulinello
Running time - 112 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Their refreshingly grown-up collaboration, "The Object of My Affection", is something of a grounded flip side to "My Best Friend's Wedding". Only here, the acerbic gay best friend hasn't been neutered for mass-audience consumption.
While the result makes for a considerably less-than-mainstream proposition and the picture's first half has pacing problems, the consistently smart writing and terrific performances should generate some enthusiastic word-of-mouth, at least in big-city markets.
Based on a novel by Stephen McCauley, the film has changed the first-person male point of view to that of Nina Borowski (Jennifer Aniston), a Brooklyn social worker who offers her spare room to George Hanson (Paul Rudd), a schoolteacher about to be unceremoniously dumped by his smarmy college professor boyfriend, Dr. Joley (Tim Daly).
The fact that Nina and George get along famously doesn't sit quite well with her brash, civil liberties lawyer boyfriend, Vince (John Pankow), especially when she finds out she's pregnant with his child but announces she'd rather have George (with whom she's become smitten) help her raise the baby.
Initially tickled by the idea, George is subsequently faced with making a tough decision when he meets Paul (Amo Gulinello), the very young roommate of a much older theater critic (the always on-the-money Nigel Hawthorne).
A little too heavy on the dramatic element to be labeled a true romantic comedy, "The Object of My Affection" tends to derive its humor from dialogue rather than situation. Although Wasserstein's way with words is always welcome, the film could have benefited from a bit more of the latter.
Still, Hytner's direction is never less than involving, and his cast is uniformly wonderful. Aniston's never been better than as the vulnerable but determined Nina, while Rudd's conflicted George rings three-dimensionally true. Both leads remain appealingly cute without becoming cutesy.
Among the rich support work, Pankow (Cousin Ira on "Mad About You") also manages to tread a fine line between being outspoken and obnoxious; Hawthorne brings a finely tuned wit and grace to his role of the chastened father figure; and Allison Janney (the scene-stealing stumbler in "Primary Colors") and Alan Alda are a blast as Aniston's snooty matchmaking sister and her name-dropping, literary agent husband.
Fine, too, are Daly as Rudd's full-of-himself former flame and Gulinello as the spirited new guy in Rudd's life. As an inside joke for stage buffs, Daly and Hawthorne are joined in a panel discussion putting down contemporary theater by real-life leading lights Alfred Uhry, Christopher Durang and Michael Weller, among others.
THE OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION
20th Century Fox
A Laurence Mark production
A Nicholas Hytner film
Director: Nicholas Hytner
Producer: Laurence Mark
Screenwriter: Wendy Wasserstein
Based on the novel by: Stephen McCauley
Director of photography: Oliver Stapleton
Production designer: Jane Musky
Editor: Tariq Anwar
Costume designer: John Dunn
Music: George Fenton
Music supervisor: Alex Steyermark
Casting: Daniel Swee
Color/stereo
Cast:
Nina Borowski: Jennifer Aniston
George Hanson: Paul Rudd
Vince McBride: John Pankow
Sidney Miller: Alan Alda
Dr. Robert Joley: Tim Daly
Rodney Fraser: Nigel Hawthorne
Constance Miller: Allison Janney
Paul James: Amo Gulinello
Running time - 112 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 4/13/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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