Do you ever watch a film that you expect to be poor, but go into it with low expectations and come out happily surprised? Well, never was this more appropriate than with 'Management', the new rom-com from Jeniffer Aniston.
The plot revolves around Sue a traveling sales-woman who stays in a remote motel run by a quirky family. The son in the family (Mike), takes a liking to Sue, and tries to chat her up during her stay. She guesses this, and just wanting to get rid of him, lets her feel his bum. This tips Mike over the edge, and he soon goes on a round the states road-trip to find her and woo her.
This film is a mix of rom-com and wannabe 'Juno'-esque independent. The music and some of the plot is aiming for Sundance film festival, and noticeably so. Still, I quite liked it!
The thing I liked about is the way it differs from your average rom-com. When Sue realizes Mike isn't going to leave her alone until he's satisfied, she asks him what will satisfy him. Refering to his previous compliment to her bum she asks him if he would leave her alone if she let him feel it. He agrees, and at this point I thought 'good on you Aniston, pushing the boat out a bit'.
The nice thing about this film is it's about Sue realizing that she is no better than her pursuer, and that dawning of realization is really quite touching. It leads us to think about our own prejudices towards people, and exactly what they are based on. I liked it!
Occasionally, the film devolves into out and out silly comedy, like one bit where Mike makes friends with a Chinese guy. It all gets a bit 'Harold and Kumar' there.
There's an interesting half hour with Woody Harrelson in it, playing the most bizarre of people, and his acting talent added some weight to the film. Aniston's own acting is decent enough, certainly better than her Friends days, although the role doesn't exactly push her much. The (unknown to me) Steve Zahn does a good job. He is a quirky looking fellow, and his character is the same. It's an interesting little mix, and the only thing I didn't like is the way they were forcing the film to be alternative.
All in all, Aniston's own direction in this film is passable, and if you go in with the low expectations I myself did, then you'll probably be impressed.
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Sep 25th, 2009
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