If I Were You

What you might expect from a movie about two women, one who is lovely, older, wiser, and not as firm, the other lovely, young and not very bright, except for when it comes to manipulation and adoration of the physical and the moment, would not be what you get in If I Were You . It's a movie that does not underestimate the buddy aspect of a romp, and it turns that inside out by using traditional methods, straight (wo)man, loose limbed physical comedy, and adds a dose of heartbreak not only in the realm of love, but in all relationships including friendship and parent child. It's an exceptional vehicle for Harden and one she readily deserves as she is overlooked and underused in so many ways.

If you grew up in the 70s and 80s, you'll recognise the Neil Simon pretense of this movie. Though it has neither the fast pace nor the wicked writing of a Simon production, it's well done and entirely worth an evening's light viewing.

The depiction of a main character in an agonising predicament, but whose basic decency wins out time and again over her broken heart, is rare in popular culture, and brilliantly performed by Marcia Gay Harden.

This is an intelligent and funny movie, well worth watching, even if for the first act alone. Harden and Watling are genuinely entertaining to watch. They have great chemistry, playing off each other beautifully. The film's only flaws are in the somewhat uneven plot, and a couple of very minor characters with sub-par acting -- the waitress in the opening scene must be surely be the producer's sister or something.

The first act is surprisingly great. I literally laughed out loud. The concept is also super fun and intriguing. Marcia Gay Harden's every move is perfect as Madeline, the prim and proper, confused working wife. Leonor Watling also gives a wonderful performance as Lucy. She gives Lucy exactly the right blend of naïvete, savviness, and genuine innocence, which allows us to care about Lucy even if she doesn't always do the right thing.

The second act continues at a pretty good pace. However, to keep from dragging, the middle of the movie craved a couple of extra plot complications.

In the third act, the tone of the movie shifts considerably. Now If I Were You is a drama, and a major new character is introduced. The story would have been even stronger if it could have retained more of the fun-loving spirit of the first act.

Overall, If I Were You gets a 6.5 . . . since that's not an option, 7.

I have to open by saying I've always enjoyed Marcia Gay Harden. But I was a little worried that comedy might not be her strength. I was happily wrong. She delivers a joke well, very well at times and she carries the 2 hour movie right through to the end. She puts her own style into it too, which is memorable.

The movie is light entertainment but it's not irritating. It weaves it's own little path and pops out the other end with a smile on it's face. This is probably going to sound mean but the secondary characters were neither here nor there and only served as billboards for Marcia to graffiti. Though Aiden Quinn does carve out a few good moments for his character.

But It's Marcia's show and she steps up well. Well worth it if you're perhaps on the upper side of 40 and looking for something light, funny and mostly clean.

I only recently discovered this little gem on Netflix and I was really impressed. This independent film is everything that so many Hollywood films aren't (anymore): complex, interesting, challenging, funny. The acting (especially Marcia Gay Harden and Aidan Quinn) is excellent. Despite its 2-hour run-time and complex plot, it never bogs down. Director Joan Carr-Wiggin does an admirable job of keeping the story moving and relatable through all the twists and turns of the plot and subplots. In fact, the story itself mirrors the Shakespearean structure with intrigue, mistaken or confused identities, poignant subtext, etc. And to top it all off, there's no formulaic development or "Hollywood ending" to ruin the great story! This film is truly delightful and its a shame that it did so unbelievably poorly at the box-office. The critics have not done it justice, either, giving one-line reviews that make me wonder if they even watched it. If you check on Rotten Tomatoes, you'll see that the audience score is around 70%, while the critic's score is at 9%! Definitely a disconnect with reality, in my opinion. It's not a perfect film, and if IMDb allowed it I would have given it an 8.5, but it's certainly MUCH better than its critical ratings and box-office earnings indicate.