Flannel Pajamas

Just saw this at Cinema Arts in Huntington NY and I wonder why the negative comments are so nasty. This film is exactly what it claims to be - an independent film, made with limited resources by hardworking actors who give it their all. While all the characters may not be appealing, they are all interesting and have something to say. The younger brother (Jordan), for example, was fascinating. The two leads were excellent and had chemistry that is hard to find in so called major movies. Nicole may have had one or two too many nude scenes, but that's OK. Justin Kirk really caught his character and his dialogue and delivery was excellent. The film could be 20 minutes shorter with tighter editing and might be more enjoyable and have fewer head-scratching scenes. What was the conversation between the mother and the husband in the hospital cafeteria all about and where did it lead to? All in all a six or seven and worth seeing, in my opinion.

"Flannel Pajamas" opens with the meeting of Stuart and Nicole at a dinner party. Despite Stuart trumpeting his life philosophy in a narcissistic monologue, romance blooms, and by evening's end the pair are clearly besotted with each other. The film's Indie credentials are established over the next half hour with some fairly explicit love scenes, which add little to either plot or character development. In due course the lovers marry, put on their clothes and start criticizing each other - immediately transforming their bedroom's erotic intimacy into a zone of estrangement. Nicole gripes that Stuart doesn't listen to her and won't talk about his issues - while remaining secretive about her own. With communication and tenderness in short supply, the marriage turns rancid as complaints and evasions take center stage.

A troupe of peripheral characters come and go, priming the audience for plot-lines that never materialize, leaving "Flannel Pajamas" full of loose threads and soggy with irrelevant material. Most viewers will probably have had enough of this tiresome twosome long before the curtain falls.

Flannel Pajamas was intelligent. The dialogue is exceptionally well written and manages to keep the viewer in the movie - as most good "Indie" flicks often do. It is more of a character/relationship study than anything. These types of movies often get overlooked when it comes to critics or the general public. It is understandable how someone who likes "XXX" with Vin Diesel would hate this movie - opposite ends of the spectrum. Likewise, for those of you that loathe the unimaginative huge budget big-named action films that pollute Hollywood and movie screens across the country, you'll love this one. Flannel Pajamas is a much needed break from the mainstream.

Julianne Nicholson and Justin Kirk have excellent chemistry together, doing a superb job of portraying a couple adapting to modern-day problems that threaten to tear them apart. It comes together as a poignant love story of opposites attracting and making it work.

Jeff Lipsky's touching, poignant, and strikingly honest portrayal of a young couple's long-term relationship—from the initial meeting during a tempestuous blind date to their highly libidinous courtship to their marriage and ultimate downfall—engenders a film that, for once, is truly deserving of the comparison to the inimitable work of John Cassavetes and Mike Leigh.

Quiet (no music that I can remember, less the title credits and the absolutely fantastic original song from the trailer that was tacked on to the end credits), stark, and extremely naturalistic in its execution, FLANNEL PAJAMAS is one of those truly adult films in line with the ilk of Mike Nichols' CLOSER, in which there is no room for clichés, no time for hackneyed aphorisms, and only an earnest reality presented in a forum that is always vivifying, sometimes humorous, and wholly infused with the utmost humanity.

Flannel Pajamas is the new independent film about the relationship of two individuals who go through the step-by-step analysis from first-time meetings, to eventual physical affection and then emotional exchanges. Unknown writer/director Jeff Lipsky deconstructs the abnormal psyche of two people, Stuart (Justin Kirk) and Nicole (Julianne Nicholson) and shows the viewer intangible sphere of their association.

Admiring the courage of two leading performances would be an understatement. Kirk and Nicholson completely engage themselves in their respective roles. The story begins with Stuart and Nicole meeting on a double date. Flirting, paranoia, dilemma, and heated discussion both fuel each other to more intrigue in the other. After their meeting we begin on their relationship road, and a very bumpy road at that. At first, the two seem like such a perfect match despite their differences. Stuart is a confident, money making man, who gives off the sense of inner-conflict but exceptional at hiding it from the viewer as well as Nicole. Nicole on the other hand, has a cute as a button persona who just happens to be living in an apartment with a communal bathroom. Her yearn for a man with financial and emotional stability is evident and Stuart seems to be the answer for her.

Unfortunately the film's emotional centers aren't really there. Even though you can find a bit of every love/relationship film ever made in this film, some real life issues need not to be shared. Lipsky's heart was in the right place when writing the film but his choices of leading the viewer through the tale were falsified by the fact that this is a love/relationship film. Justin Kirk, best known for his bravura performance in Angels in America, completely wears his role with such confidence and inevitable downfall of Stuart is shown remarkably by Kirk. The meeting with Nicole's Anti-Semitic mother gives Stuart the freedom to stretch out his legs and walk through a film which many will/have not enjoyed and give it a more even potent center.

Julianne Nicholson gives that brave and tortured performance that every actor dreams of. Despite spending half the film in the nude that is not the reason why it is "brave" as some critics like to throw in when someone does spend screen time like that. It's what she does when she's clothed and unclothed and her expression of words, her facial transformations in an instance, and even more, giving Nicole a sensitivity and humanity of sheer velocity. In the coming years, I have a feeling we could be hearing Nicholson's name at some award ceremonies.

Although I'm afraid the performances aren't enough to carry a film like this through to the end. Hallow centers and underdeveloped characters are just too much of an imperfection in portrait already pre-painted a little fuzzy. Engagement is vague but emotion is manifested wonderfully.

Grade: **1/2/****