Ainsi va la vie

If you were told to watch a movie directed by Rob Reiner, starring Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton, with a budget of $30 mil. you could think that you are about to experience a movie with powerful emotions and an interesting plot.

Actually, in the end, this is a rather simple movie and its course is obvious from the beginning.

Michael Douglas plays Oren Little, a realtor who's about to retire after he makes his last sale, and Diane Keaton plays his singer next-door neighbor. What will happen between them is to be seen (I won't spoil it for you) but I'm pretty sure you have already guessed.

The acting from the 2 veteran actors is effortless but the direction from the once-mighty Rob Reiner is too simple and targeting more for a few easy laughs if nothing else. Note that Reiner is also in the movie as the pianist who plays for Diane Keaton's character.

It's a dramedy more than just a comedy but even the dramatic elements are more likely to promote laughter, if not anything else.

There a couple of good songs sang by Keaton (?) and you also get to see Grease's Frankie Valli in a cameo appearance.

Overall: It's OK. Douglas/Keaton are fun to watch, but don't expect greatness.

You can't watch this film and not think of one of the two films I referred to- 2003's "Something's Gotta Give" and of course the Oscar- winning 1997 "As Good As It Gets". Overall, I'll give "And So It Goes" a modest recommendation if you liked those two films, but this movie has got it's problems. One of those problems I think honestly is the length- at only 90 minutes (your standard running time to maximize the movie multiplexes' number of showtimes), you just don't have the time to fully develop the story and characters; unlike "As Good As It Gets" for instance- a 2 & 1/2 hour movie. Oscar winners Diane Keaton & Michael Douglas I think work well together, and have on-screen chemistry. They just needed a more fully-developed screenplay.

And Rob Reiner (who also has a supporting role in the film)- wow; this guy used to be one of the top Hollywood filmmakers of the '80s and early '90s- with films like "Princess Bride", "Stand By Me", "When Harry Met Sally", "Misery", "A Few Good Men", etc... He had a modest comeback with the 2000's film "Bucket List", but other than that, the guy can't seem to catch a break about the past 20 years- ever since that infamous bomb "North" I'd say?? Well, anyhoo, if you're looking for something to watch, and the aforementioned films are not readily available (or you've seen them enough already), you may wanna give this a try- And so it goes...

Hey it's a Rob Reiner movie, what could possibly go wrong? Not too much, but he's coasting here, and even indulging himself with a minor role. It's not terrible but it is derivative, with Keaton doing her adorable kooky self and Douglas his mean mother routine, concealing a heart of gold. Echoes of Bill Murray in St Vincent with his child-phobia or Nicholson in As Good As it Gets with his misogyny, they inevitably get together and it all ends in a pretty saccharine love-in. Lots of ethnic minority casting and an adorable kid, you'll either surrender to its charms or reach for the sick bag.

And So It Goes is a gentle comedy about the fragility of being human. Rob Reiner, its director, suggests that in the eternal presence of youth, it is possible to continue to grow young and transform one's life. Although its main characters, Leah, a widow who sings torch songs in supper clubs but can't get through one without crying (Diane Keaton) and Oren, a widower and veteran Realtor who is just counting the days until retirement (Michael Douglas), are at odds with each other. In the course of events we find opposites attract and are vital to one another's growth. Both are still actively grieving their deceased spouses in very different ways. Oren slips away to the graveyard to talk to his wife, while showing the world a nasty, hardened face. His dream of retirement hinges upon the final sale of the $8.6 million mansion where he lived with her once upon a time. Should the sale go through, he intends to head for the serenity of a solitary life tucked away in Vermont. In the mean time, he must weather the storm of living among others in the cramped quarters of a multiple family dwelling he owns and sardonically nicknames "Shangri-La." Although both Leah and Oren are in fragile shape, they unify when Oren's ten year-old grand daughter is dumped on his doorstep by his son, a man estranged from his father for double digits who is going away to prison. Oren attempts to get rid of the child, but Leah steps in, revealing her material instincts in full bloom. Her "perfect love" with her deceased husband did not enable her to become a mother and this is her opportunity. The vulnerability of Oren's young grand daughter, who his keenly aware that she has been dumped in the hands of an aging, unhappy man who does not want her, is beautifully and delicately rendered.

In their struggle to deal with the child, Oren is humbled by Leah's superb ability to cope and begins to grow fond of both Leah and his grand daughter. In spite of his crude behavior toward his neighbors/tenants in the past, love enters the humble community at "Shangri-La" in the form of the arrival of a ten year old, the adoption of a stray dog, the sudden birth of a baby and the transformation of caterpillar into...a butterfly. This happiness is a metaphor for the potential happiness hidden in even the most banal settings and social situations. Only when events conspire to reveal the more elevated nature in people can both young and old face what the future has in store for them--something that is always a question mark.

And So It Goes is a far more realistic and beautiful love story than the blockbuster hit that Diane Keaton made with Jack Nicholson, As Good As It Gets, over a decade ago. It is not a movie about "beautiful people" living in spotless white houses in the Hamptons or middle aged divorcées who manage snag aging, jaded producers so rich they date twenty year-old girls. That film was a complete fantasy on every level. (Without Keanu Reeves for visual relief it would have been hard to take some of the love scenes.) And So It Goes is a far gentler, far less glamorous film about love "among the ruins" than As Good As It Gets. Its verisimilitude may make less mature audiences uncomfortable for that reason. Ultimately, Keaton and Douglas pull off their roles like the pros that they are. It's a pleasure to see them get to know one another gradually, albeit clumsily and foolishly, in a way that is true to life. I highly recommend And So It Goes for anyone brave enough to watch fragile people still attempting to transform their lives and move forward in the face of the unknown.

"In every heart there is a room/A sanctuary safe and strong/To heal the wounds from lovers past/Until a new one comes along." Billy Joel

Respectfully depicting romance with sixty something's is as challenging as getting someone other than Jack Nicholson to play the male lead. Director Rob Reiner in An So It Goes has achieved the near impossible by having Michael Douglas do better than Jack by underplaying a crusty but ultimately dear real estate agent, Oren Little, a widower selling his own 8 million dollar home somewhere in Fairfield, Connecticut.

With Diane Keaton for the love interest singing in a lounge (Frankie Valli plays the owner!) a sweet range of Rodgers & Hart, Irving Berlin, and Jimmy van Huesen tunes, Reiner has two Oscar-winning performers who mostly underplay the attraction that takes them out of the clichéd situation of "hate then love" into a more reasonable slow growth to affection. Writer Mark Andrus, who knows of these matters from writing As Good as It Gets, in which Jack gets his reality check also from Keaton, offers subplots without the usual screaming and insults. However, make no mistake, the plot is as predictable as it gets.

Oren inherits his hitherto unknown granddaughter, Sarah (Sterling Jerins), from a prison-bound ex-junkie son, Luke (Scott Shepherd). Neighbor Leah (Keaton), finding in Sarah the granddaughter she never had, sometimes seems to question that she could have feelings for such a meathead as Oren. When Oren accurately reflects me at my most clueless, I temper my criticism of clichés.

Because Douglas himself has had major challenges with his son, Cameron--a drug addict still doing time--authenticity pours out of Douglas, who gives a believable performance as the conflicted father/grandfather. In real life Douglas called himself a "bad father," so I award him points for honesty then and courage for his depiction now.

Although I would have preferred more depth in Oren's relationship with Luke, Andrus and Reiner go enough into Oren's growing love for Sarah and his appreciation for Leah. With no new story creativity, the seasoned actors make the plot combinations reasonable. Even the minor characters defy their stereotypes, headed by Frances Sternhagen as Oren's real-estate partner with a penchant for cigarettes and sardonic repartee with Oren. Hints of the screwball comedy! She's that good.

Reiner should be applauded for toning down the bad jokes usually accompanying Social-Security-eligible lovers. However, I don't believe Douglas would forsake Catherine Zeta-Jones for Keaton. That's the reality we know. And so it goes.