Broken English

Zoe Cassavetes' "Broken English" is a comedy/drama about an attractive young woman who, through her neuroticism and emotional insecurities, keeps sabotaging her own happiness. Even though she works as a manager and troubleshooter at a trendy Manhattan hotel, Nora Wilder doesn't lead what one would call a particularly fulfilling life. Unable to make a lasting connection with any of the men she meets, Nora finds herself drifting from one meaningless encounter to another, a situation that only exacerbates her already deep-rooted fears and vulnerabilities.

In its structure, "Broken English" has a freeform looseness that keeps it from feeling over-plotted and contrived. And while there are times when the movie seems to be serving up pretty much the same scene over and over again, Posey's winsomeness and charm make us care about the character. In fact, without her, the movie would be considerably less compelling than it is. She manages to make a likable figure out of a character who might otherwise be seen as excessively whiny and self-pitying. And even though the mood of the film is generally light and playfully ironic, there is some genuine pain in the story as well, as Nora struggles with the very real issues of loneliness, panic attacks and depression.

The actress receives impressive support from Drea de Matteo ("The Sopranos"), Peter Bogdanovich, Gena Rowlands, Justin Theroux and Melvil Poupaud, but the movie is Posey's all the way.

Like father, like daughter. As the daughter of maverick indie filmmaker and actor John Cassavetes and actress Gena Rowlands, first-time director/screenwriter Zoe Cassavetes has a pedigree that inevitably comes with exalted expectations. Interestingly, you can see traces of her father's recognizably low-budget, improvisational-feeling style in this 2007 character study masquerading as a romantic comedy. She's fortunate to have recruited the wonderful Parker Posey to portray Nora Wilder, a confident guest-relations manager at a luxury boutique hotel who is also a neurotic thirty-something concurrently longing for and repelled by the thought of a long-term commitment with a man. What makes this film a bit meatier than an episode of Sex and the City is in the idiosyncratic ways Posey informs her multi-layered performance as she attempts to show a flailing dignity in the face of every possible humiliation she could suffer as a single woman within her married social circle.

The rest of the film does not quite measure up to Posey, as Cassavetes has her going through the paces of dating men particularly bad for her until by happenstance at a co-worker's cocktail party, Nora meets Julien, an affectionate Frenchman who appears quite smitten with her. They naturally embark on a weekend fling that neither wants to end. The rest of the movie plays out in a predictable pattern but with some odd quirks along the way. The result is not a misfire. However, there seems to be a desperate reliance on Posey to bring it all home, which she does handily. Still, there is a charming performance by the charismatic Melvil Poupad as Julien, and he makes Nora's attraction understandable even if the script does not allow him to counterbalance the film.

As married best friend Audrey, Drea de Matteo plays a frustrating character drawn strictly by the numbers, while Justin Theroux manages to exude smarmy conceit as the self-absorbed actor who manipulates Nora. Cassavetes conveniently has her mother play Nora's meddlesome, well-heeled mother with a not-quite-present Peter Bogdanovich as her second husband. The film drags somewhat in the last third, and the ending is both pat and familiar given all that has come before. Still, it's hard to resist Posey excelling in such a fully dimensional role. There are quite a few extras on the 2007 DVD - a fifteen-minute making-of featurette, a thirty-minute episode of HDNet featuring extensive interviews with Cassavetes and Rowlands, and about sixteen minutes of deleted scenes, two of which are comically awkward encounters at the opening cocktail party with an urbane married older man (Griffin Dunne) and a friendly lesbian (Nadia Dajani).

Parker Posey and a generally good cast struggle against an underdone script. You can sort of see what the writer and director intended, but it doesn't really come off. In spite of Parker's best efforts, and they are quite fine, this film meanders along on its surface. People suffer in affluent, superficial ways. There's lots of whining about alienation and loneliness. Yet no one has any observable problems that warrant their apparent dysfunction. It's hard to feel much affinity for the spoiled, self-indulgent female friends who complain about their fates in a somewhat muddled fashion. This is a story where character development is essential, but nothing of the sort arrives in time to redeem the unlikeable best friends whose personal travails should evoke interest and sympathy from the audience.

One of my most anticipated films of the year turns out to be a bit of a typical rom-dram snoozer. Despite a stellar cast, Zoe Cassavettes' first film is a bit of a misfire. It seems she was going for an old-school type of romance film with a modern (yet unoriginal) twist, but I watched this thinking "If I wanted to watch an old-fashioned romantic drama, I'd rather just watch a movie from the 40s." Not to compare this to the breakthrough film of that-other-daughter-of-a-famous-director, but this totally has a "Lost in Translation" vibe going on. Except it isn't nearly as engrossing or well-made. The movie's best feature is, of course, Parker Posey. I do give credit to Cassavettes for taking a chance to show something that not many other directors have been willing to do--that Posey is a brilliant dramatic actress. Sure, she's a brilliant comedienne and this is what she's known for, but one look at "Broken English" or "Personal Velocity will" prove that this woman is every bit as good as your Streeps or your Hepburns. She just needs better roles! Justin Theroux is excellent, though only in the film for 15 minutes or so. I do fear he's getting typecast as the cocky yuppie or Hollywood type. So this one isn't a total waste of time, but I'd say it's for fans of the cast only.

It is a story that could have been very tired and cheesy but the script and acting made this one of the most superbly created film in modern day movie history.

The emotional nuances throughout the film was impeccably delivered by both Posey and Poupaud. Cassavetes achieves the perfect balance of emotion and understatement in the realistic yet hopeful portrayal of a woman's struggle with her own insecurities.

Melvil Poupaud however is the true gem of the film. His portrayal of Julien is masterfully executed and inexplicably touching. This movie is a rare find.