Straightaway, let me say that this is a very good movie but I did not like it. Most of you who have read this blog more than once will probably know, I don't like character dramas. I will almost never choose to see a character drama unless it is during my yearly Oscar sojourn. There are even fewer that I enjoy.Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) and Charlie (Adam Driver) have been married for around nine years. In the beginning, Nicole was an actress fresh off of starring in a teen comedy. Charlie was a New York theater director. She became his star and both of their fortunes rose because of it. Then Nicole is offered a pilot for a TV show in Los Angeles. She seizes the opportunity to find herself as an individual again and that's where the movie starts. Nicole and Charlie begin their divorce amicably but soon after moving to LA, Nicole hires a fierce divorce lawyer (Laura Dern), forcing Charlie to also get his own (Alan Alda). Things get bad as Charlie is forced to repeatedly move his comfort zone further and further afield to stay close to the couple's eight-year-old son (Azhy Robertson).
Did I mention that I hate character dramas? Movies about divorce are hard (not as hard as actual divorces, but still) because one person tends to come off better than the other. Personally, I found Nicole more sympathetic because her character is trying to find her own path not on the coattails of her husband but others may see her as a narcissist only looking out for herself at the expense of her family. Same for Charlie. Your perception of these people will mostly depend on your personal experiences. Maybe you'll like it more than I did. There are some really funny bits, and also some frustratingly sad bits. Noah Baumbach tries to deliver a well-rounded film about three-dimensional characters struggling to find the right way forward in their lives and mostly succeeds. Like I said, it's a good film. I just really hated it.
It's currently streaming on Netflix.
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