Mr. Jealousy

MR. JEALOUSY doesn't aspire to greatness; just a small, quirky, romantic comedy. To this end it succeeds. Set in Manhattan, Eric Stoltz plays a young thirty-something wannabe writer earning a living as a substitute teacher. Annabella Sciorra plays his girlfriend, and they are falling in love with one another. Eric's problem is that he is pathologically jealous and is being eaten away by thoughts of one of her earlier lovers who is now a successful writer. So obsessed is Eric that he joins the ex-boyfriend's group therapy session under the guise of his best friend. And far from being irate, the friend begins to dig on this, receiving therapy vicariously through Eric.

Of course the whole shebang unravels and...well that's the movie. As far as 'date' movies go, this is better than most and is heartily recommended for the guys when the lady wants this kind of movie brought home.

For all of you Whit Stillman fans (Metropolitan, Barcelona, and Last Days of Disco) check out this movie as well as Noah's earlier film Kicking and Screaming. The premise of the movie is very good and it lives up to its title. If you hate the kind of movie where everyone spends the whole movie talking to one another then skip this one because there are not any jokes involving people being kicked in their midsection or everyone's favorite bathroom humor. Instead you have an intelligent comedy that will add nothing of value to your life but will hopefully make you laugh as you examine other peoples neurosis. I think that there is chemistry between Stoltz and Sciorra despite what a previous reviewer said. I also think this film is better than Kicking and Screaming.

The downfall of nearly all comedies is that Silliness is so often used as a substitute for humor. In this film, I never felt embarrassed for any of the characters, who were allowed to seem like genuinely real people in the context of a genuinely humorous development. It was also literate, which was nice given the thread of narrative running through the thing. I felt that simply reading the script would have been a nice rainy-day read, but at the same time, the lines were not literarily pompous or turgid.

Altogether, this was not a great film---but nicely, nothing happened in it to make it a bad one, either. If you're fed up with variations on same-old-same-old, sit back and just let this film flow over you.

Aside from a thoroughly misrepresentative title, "Mr. Jealousy" is actually quite entertaining. With good acting, a good story, and the brand of direction one only gets from the writer, the film is a genuinely charming romantic comedy. The humor is subtle and the dialogue poetic, but if you like that kind of thing (think "Royal Tenenbaums" meets "Kissing Jessica Stein," with most emphasis on the Stein) you should rent it. It's esoteric, but if you get it you'll like it.

Lester (Eric Stolz) has a new girlfriend in Ramona (Annabella Sciorra). She is a beautiful lady, with a swell job in a Brooklyn museum, and she is continuing work on a graduate degree at Columbia. Substitute teacher Lester, however, is obsessed with Ramona's past relationships. He was burned by a couple of former girlfriends and fidelity is paramount to him. When Ramona actually gives Lester a book to read, written by a former boyfriend, Lester is stunned. Not long after this, Lester stumbles upon the nouveau-celebrity author at a therapy group. Ah ha! If Lester assumes an alias and becomes part of the group, he has a chance to find out more about Ramona's past and her predilections for loyalty. Yet, even as Lester discovers revelations about his new girlfriend, he may be endangering his own chance of survival with Ramona, by not living in the present alone. Should he continue? This film has an offbeat charm that makes it attractive. The script is thoughtful, clever, and original, daring the viewer to listen closely to every word and idea presented. The actors, in addition to the two stars, are very fine, with Chris Eigeman giving a nice turn as the newly famous author, and Bridget Fonda, Peter Bogdanovich, and others on hand to help out in a big way. The costumes are attractive and the NYC setting always a winner. However, this is not the typical romcom by any means. It has a slower pace and its commitment to dialogue over action makes it a hard sell for the ADD crowd. This said, do catch Mr. Jealousy at your earliest opportunity, if you like to vary your viewing habits. Here is one movie that offers charm and intelligence without losing its own unique identity.