Just Looking

Just saw this at a film festival, and it was one of the highlights of my weekend. This was a sweet, funny, sometimes touching film, well directed by Seinfeld vet Alexander. The story deals with a sex-starved 14-year old boy. But since it's set in 1955 and not 1999, all he wants is to see two people in the act. He thinks his plans are dashed when his widowed mother (Patti LuPone) and her new husband send him from the Bronx to his Aunt and Uncle's in the country (Queens). He lucks out to find a bra model (Gretchen Mol) living on his block. I won't give away the rest, but Ryan Merriman as the boy was great. When this opens, as it certainly should, get right out to it. It's the kind of film they just don't make enough of.

I have just returned home from the Dallas premiere of this movie. We were lucky enough to have both the director, Jason Alexander and the writer, Marshall Kemp in attendance. They also stuck around for Q&A afterwards. Mr. Alexander said he was attracted to the movie because "it made sense" to him. I think the point is that this story hits home because we all went through the stage of total preoccupation with the curious theory of sex. We knew it was there ... we just couldn't quite get a grip (so to speak) on what it was all about. Lenny, brilliantly played by Ryan Merriman, is on a personal mission to be sex-educated. His "object" of desire is Hedy, a former bra model. Gretchen Mol left me breathless its this role that makes the film click. She will steal your heart, just as she does Lenny's. Other excellent performances come from Peter Onorati as Uncle Phil and veteran actress Patti Lupone as Lenny's widowed mother. Lenny's step-father is a good-hearted, fat butcher played by Rich Licata, who according to Jason Alexander is a real-life personal injury attorney. My tidbit of info involves Gretchen Mol's doctor boyfriend who is played by John Bolger, the Great Nephew of Ray Bolger - the scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz". Mr. Kemp's tremendously insightful script shows us that Lenny's greatest education comes not from a book, but from realizing that life is made to be lived passionately with others. Sex is fine, but true love and trust are the ultimate goals. I trust this film finds an audience.

Although there have been countless films on teenage yearnings and lust, occasionally a little gem crops up. Just Looking is one such film, a gentle but frank script with the occasional comic one liners thrown in is a harmless and entertaining film with a feel good ending.

In the 50s, in Bronx, Lenny Levine (Ryan Merriman) is a Jewish teenager trying to discover sex, being quite obsessed by sex in a naive way. He does not like his stepfather and misses his father, who died a couple of years ago. After trying to see his stepfather having sex with his mother Sylvia Levine Polinsky (Patti LuPone), he is sent to Brooklyn to spend his summer vacation with his pregnant aunt Norma de Lorenzo (Ilana Levine) and his Italian uncle Phil de Lorenzo (Peter Onorati). He likes his uncle Phil and becomes friend of a boy and two girls of his age, who have a "sex club", and Alice, the most experienced of the group, explains subjects related to sex to the others. Later, Lenny has a crush on the nurse Hedy Coletti (Gretchen Mol), a former model. Along his vacation, the reality about the relationship of his father and his mother is disclosed to Lenny, while he learns many topics about sex, reaching the adolescence. "Just Looking" was a great surprise for me: the ridiculous Brazilian title ("The Indiscreet Lens") hides a delightful and nostalgic movie about reaching the adolescence in the 50s. In some moments, it slightly recalls the classic "Summer of 42". It is impossible not liking "Just Looking", which is sensitive, funny, with a magnificent screenplay and dialogs and excellent direction and performance of the cast. Indeed, it is a must-see movie, recommended for any audience. Gretchen Mol is amazingly beautiful in the role of Hedy, and Ryan Merriman and Amy Braverman are excellent in the roles of curious teenagers. I saw this movie on VHS, but today I am going to buy the DVD. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Lente Indiscreta" ("The Indiscreet Lens")

Alexander and Karp hit a home run with this sweetly sentimental little slice-of-life flick about a Bronx boy in the 50's when his hormones have kicked in and he finds himself preoccupied with sex. Merriman makes a solid centerpiece among some fine character actors and the much under-rated Gretchen Mol as our little hero learns lessons about life, love and...yeah, sex too. A cute, fun, and earnest little romp for anyone who can harken back to when sex was just one big question mark.