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.
