The Bachelors

This film tells the story of a man and his teenage son, who struggles to cope with the death of their wife and mother.

It is unusual to have a romantic comedy set in such dire backdrop, but in here it works. The two budding romances are convincing and engaging. I enjoyed watching it.

J. K. Simmons is always a delight to watch and he delivers well as a depressed widower struggling to find his footing again in life after losing a wife of several decades. He and his son work hard to find their footing in a new town, and new situations. It is an examination of how much will plays a part in how a person processes grief from, and the ultimate mechanisms at play in that examination.

The acting on all levels is excellent, as is the direction, screenwriting, music, editing and overall delivery of this film.

Great little, quiet film.

Bill Palet (J.K. Simmons) is still depressed by the death of his wife a year earlier. He and his teen son Wes (Josh Wiggins) move out of their home and into a new life at a private school. Wes is partnered with troubled Lacy Westman (Odeya Rush) who has dysfunctional parents getting divorced but stubbornly still live together. The kids' french teacher Carine (Julie Delpy) try to heal their wounds.

The kids are great. This could be a great high school drama if the movie could skew more towards them. I don't have anything against Delpy and Simmons. On the contrary, they do great work with their roles. Nevertheless, it does pull focus away from the kids. It leaves the story telling scattered. I don't know much about filmmaker Kurt Voelker. He seems to get some good work from his actors.

As the movie started I was expecting a light rom com about overcoming loss. What I got was a coming of age story mixed with gut wrenching moments about mental illness, depression and how to deal with loss. I like to be surprised, and this movie definitely did that, as it goes places I wasn't expecting, with great acting by everyone, which helps sell the drama and makes it even harder to watch. Due to its theme this is not an easy movie, and I can understand that sometimes people don't want to see movies like this, but if you can stomach it it's well worth the ride.

So far I haven't seen every J.K. Simmons movie, but I am getting there and this is one of the good ones.

This is two love stories, a coming of age story and a story of grief all rolled into one. IMHO very well done, which makes this a really good movie to watch. It goes on the top of my re-watch list.

Julie Delpy is supurb as J.K. Simmons love interest, Odeya Rush is outstanding as Josh Wiggins love interest and I just loved the 1973 Ford Mustang used for transport with the backward facing seat.

I found this a very sad, but uplifting movie that really hooked me in. The characters felt very real. Anyone who has lost a partner or parent will know how the characters felt here.

If you don't shed I tear you were probably watching the wrong movie.

Worth watching and highly recommended.

8/10