Michael,
Meg, Harold, Sarah, Nicolas Sam, and Karen haven’t seen each other since
college. Fate decides to intervene with the death of their close friend, Alex,
giving all of them the excuse they apparently needed to seek each other out.
But getting together has some unintended consequences as old tensions and old
feelings come to light with blunt honesty.
Now that the gang’s all back together it’s time to talk about the past,
reevaluate your life, and only get minimal restitution from it.
Now,
take that statement in step, as this movie is most certainly not speaking to my
generation. In fact, as someone who hasn’t graduated, gotten a full time job
and developed a full life, I am quite confident that I am the last person this
film was aiming for; but here I am.
The plot is
cynical, tempered with lots of regret and shame. Life has not turned out in the
way any of these guys pictured, and that hits them just as hard (if not harder)
than the death of Alex. Seeing each other again is less than pleasant as it seems to just remind all of them of what they used to be. In a way, it makes you question if the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia are ever really healthy.
And
then...it’s done. This comes to one of my biggest problems with this film as it
just ends with no real resolution. Now
everyone walks away with a better idea of what they’ve done, but only a few of
our characters are leaving any different than when they came. Maybe this is the
more realistic ending, but it hardly leaves the viewer feeling accomplished or satisfied. The end just comes out of nowhere, cutting you off from the characters and leaving you to wonder what, if anything, did they ever really solve
Once again, the
story is just a framing device for our seven very distinct, very well written characters: We have Meg, a snarky Lawyer who acts like she has a biological time-bomb instead of a clock; We have Nicolas, a war veteran with ‘damaged
equipment’ who never found his niche in life; Michael, a journalist who claims
to know everything while attempting to sleep with any woman in the room; Sam, whose life as a James Bond clone
has been plagued by family problems and self-esteem issues; Harold and Sarah,
married and content with life but still rebounding from a bump in the road; and finally, Karen,
a mother who has become the antithesis of her college self thanks to a sensible
husband with the sensible job. Each of them is written and acted well with great dialogue, but I felt estranged from each of them.
While I didn't feel too much of a connection with any of our characters, I still think you should see this movie. It has some genuinely funny and touching moments with great pacing, and you can't go wrong with a great soundtrack like this. While the film will speak much louder to an older generation, it'll still give you something worth thinking about for later in life.
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