December 10, 2024
FILM: MILLERS IN MARRIAGE
DIRECTED BY: EDWARD BURNS
STARRING: GRETCHEN MOL, JULIANA MARGULIES, EDWARD BURNS
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Some of you may remember the TV series thirtysomething back in the late 1980s. It was a show about relatives and friends dealing with each other and aging while in their thirties. In writer/director Edward Burns’s new film Millers in Marriage he presents three siblings who are now in their fifties also dealing with their various issues and relationships. They’re all artists (writer, musician, painter, etc.) who are struggling in their personal lives. Andy (played by Burns) has just started to date Renee (Minnie Driver) but is recently separated from his wife Tina (Morena Baccarin) whom Renee has worked with. Eve (Gretchen Mol) was once in a band that had a Top 20 hit in the late nineties. Now she lives in an unhappy relationship with her alcoholic husband (Patrick Wilson.) Maggie (Julianna Margulies) has almost completed a novel while her husband Nick (Campbell Scott) has seemed to have lost the spark in his own writing career.
If this sounds like a soap opera it sort of is, but Burns is a better writer and filmmaker than that. Clearly inspired by the family dramas he viewed when he was younger Burns knows how to write biting dialogue that never comes across as false. Everything these characters have to say would be relatable to anyone over the age of 50. They are dealing with long term relationships and careers that at times can feel stale. They need new inspiration. In the case of Eve, she meets a journalist (Benjamin Bratt) who has had a long-time crush on her and offers very positive and encouraging comments about her physical appearance and her old dreams of a bigger music career. Basically, they all need to figure out how to deal with this next act of their lives.
The problem with the script, if there is one, is that most of the characters (aside from the journalist) seem to be pretty unsatisfied and unsettled with their present lives. There’s not a lot of joy or humor in the film. It’s the kind of movie that Woody Allen occasionally has made when he strips all of the humor and just focuses on the drama between the characters (Interiors, Match Point, Blue Jasmine.) This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it does weigh the film down a bit making it one, to quote a character in the film, about “rich people and their champagne problems.” The story is about a family of artists who live on the east coast and have summer homes in wonderfully tranquil settings where they can write or contemplate the issues in their lives. (There is also wine being drunk in almost every scene.) The piano-driven music score also underscores this mood quite readily throughout the film.
The actors are all generally very good with Gretchen Mol, Juliana Margulies, Benjamin Bratt, and Minnie Driver being the standouts. It’s great to see such a fine ensemble cast getting to delve deep into these characters which are easily recognizable to many of us in the same age range. They are playing people who have to make choices to ignore the truth or face it. They’re all seasoned actors with long careers from which they can draw upon.
Like a number of Woody Allen films, this one has a lot of flashbacks that arrive rather suddenly to provide us with more of the background details and the various happenings just before the various events of the film. For the most part this works. At one point, there’s even a flashback within a flashback, but this shouldn’t be a problem for those who’ve experienced Allen’s works or those by a director like Wes Anderson. Otherwise, there’s not a lot of technical experimentation here.
This is a film with a good cast, some solid writing, and very realistic situations that adults who don’t feel a big need for escapism will find quite relatable.
Millers in Marriage opens today in New York and L.A. to qualify for end of the year awards. It will be released theatrically in early 2025.
FILM: MILLERS IN MARRIAGE
DIRECTED BY: EDWARD BURNS
STARRING: GRETCHEN MOL, JULIANA MARGULIES, EDWARD BURNS
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Some of you may remember the TV series thirtysomething back in the late 1980s. It was a show about relatives and friends dealing with each other and aging while in their thirties. In writer/director Edward Burns’s new film Millers in Marriage he presents three siblings who are now in their fifties also dealing with their various issues and relationships. They’re all artists (writer, musician, painter, etc.) who are struggling in their personal lives. Andy (played by Burns) has just started to date Renee (Minnie Driver) but is recently separated from his wife Tina (Morena Baccarin) whom Renee has worked with. Eve (Gretchen Mol) was once in a band that had a Top 20 hit in the late nineties. Now she lives in an unhappy relationship with her alcoholic husband (Patrick Wilson.) Maggie (Julianna Margulies) has almost completed a novel while her husband Nick (Campbell Scott) has seemed to have lost the spark in his own writing career.
If this sounds like a soap opera it sort of is, but Burns is a better writer and filmmaker than that. Clearly inspired by the family dramas he viewed when he was younger Burns knows how to write biting dialogue that never comes across as false. Everything these characters have to say would be relatable to anyone over the age of 50. They are dealing with long term relationships and careers that at times can feel stale. They need new inspiration. In the case of Eve, she meets a journalist (Benjamin Bratt) who has had a long-time crush on her and offers very positive and encouraging comments about her physical appearance and her old dreams of a bigger music career. Basically, they all need to figure out how to deal with this next act of their lives.
The problem with the script, if there is one, is that most of the characters (aside from the journalist) seem to be pretty unsatisfied and unsettled with their present lives. There’s not a lot of joy or humor in the film. It’s the kind of movie that Woody Allen occasionally has made when he strips all of the humor and just focuses on the drama between the characters (Interiors, Match Point, Blue Jasmine.) This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it does weigh the film down a bit making it one, to quote a character in the film, about “rich people and their champagne problems.” The story is about a family of artists who live on the east coast and have summer homes in wonderfully tranquil settings where they can write or contemplate the issues in their lives. (There is also wine being drunk in almost every scene.) The piano-driven music score also underscores this mood quite readily throughout the film.
The actors are all generally very good with Gretchen Mol, Juliana Margulies, Benjamin Bratt, and Minnie Driver being the standouts. It’s great to see such a fine ensemble cast getting to delve deep into these characters which are easily recognizable to many of us in the same age range. They are playing people who have to make choices to ignore the truth or face it. They’re all seasoned actors with long careers from which they can draw upon.
Like a number of Woody Allen films, this one has a lot of flashbacks that arrive rather suddenly to provide us with more of the background details and the various happenings just before the various events of the film. For the most part this works. At one point, there’s even a flashback within a flashback, but this shouldn’t be a problem for those who’ve experienced Allen’s works or those by a director like Wes Anderson. Otherwise, there’s not a lot of technical experimentation here.
This is a film with a good cast, some solid writing, and very realistic situations that adults who don’t feel a big need for escapism will find quite relatable.
Millers in Marriage opens today in New York and L.A. to qualify for end of the year awards. It will be released theatrically in early 2025.