adminCinema: Eastgate
Running time: 140 minutes
Type of film: Family drama/Comedy
Age restriction: Adults only
By Prof Joel White
LIKE psychologists I have had many occasions to question even doubt the wisdom of Shakespeare’s claim: “All’s well that ends well.”
Given the power and the force with which Judd Apatow’s film impacts upon the audience, we have here reasons both for and against the wisdom of assigning to one person the writing and directing of a film.
With this film particularly, we see the setting importance the relevance of considering the physical setting in which the characters both speak and act. It is vital to the credibility of the characters speech as well as their actions that the setting here is Hollywood, California’s La La Land.
Not for the first time we have reason to ask the question: “to what degree if at all does the Hollywood way of thinking have any relevance for the rest of America, not to mention the rest of the world?”
Debbie and Pete are a married couple: each has just turned 40 years of age. In Debbie’s case we are even given the exact date of her birth: December 5 1972.
It has become almost compulsory in America, now, for those who reach that age “to be able to account for ‘where-they-are’ and where they are going.”
In doing this, Debbie and Pete, both collectively and individually, find no pleasure in what they come up with.
As parents of two rebellious daughters, ages six and 13, they are, by an standards, barely breaking even.
Pete is a producer of musical recordings; Debbie has a shop which specialises in up to date fashioned clothing. She has just discovered that one of her employees has walked off with 12 000.
If you find it hard to comprehend how a comedy can successfully emanate from such ingredients
I urge you to see this film and you will emerge with a better understanding of Hollywood’s unique success.
This notwithstanding that the dialogue of the film the conversation of its principals is by far the filthiest I have experienced in more than 75 years of film going.
Even the children come out with tongue burners. This film is not for the delicate.
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