Sam's Blog - And So It Goes

It is unfortunate that a director who has a heavy string of beloved comedies under his belt can release a film that so ardently misses its mark, but that is exactly what happened with Rob Reiner's AND SO IT GOES.

Michael Douglas plays Oren Little, a nasty, inappropriate man who doesn't seem to hold any love in his heart except for his dead wife. His neighbor, Leah (Diane Keaton), also has a dead husband, for whom she cries every time she does her cabaret act at the local bar. When Oren's ex-junkie son asks him to take care of his ten-year-old daughter, Sarah, while he's in jail for nine months, Oren is more than ready to shut the door on his face, but Leah steps in to help. Oren immediately tries to track down Sarah's mother to hand her over to, but in the meantime, he is thrown into the role of Grandpa; and Leah's kindness causes Sarah to start calling her Grandma. The two butt heads in their attempts to raise the poor girl, but somehow a strange romantic relationship develops.

I can understand what the film is supposed to be about: finding love later in life, caring about your family, and not letting life slip you by. But those ideas are spoon fed to the audience, prodded along by the most contrived script ever. Every line of dialogue was either expository or for the sole purpose of wringing a laugh out of the audience with its shock factor (because that's the only kind of humor you'll see in this movie). The characters' actions are completely unrealistic -- they aren't naturally written, they are simply pushing the plot forward. Even the pregnant lady in the film is there for the reason that any pregnant lady is ever in a romantic comedy: so that the main character can help them give birth.

What irks me the most, however, is the romantic relationship. Now, I have nothing against the "Opposites Attract" trope, but in order for it to work out, there has to be some aspect of the relationship that balances out the general awfulness that repels them in the first place. In this case, the reason Leah falls for Oren is that despite his rude, racist, grumpy, not-my-problem attitude, he gave her a compliment. That's it. That's what woos Leah, and it seems to be the only point of attraction that is given for her character. And every womanizer everywhere cheers.

It is a train wreck of a movie, from the script right down to the editing. There were moments as I watched that I actually was so angry at the series of events that I yelled at the screen (don't worry, I was watching alone). For a romantic comedy, it does not bode well that I laughed more at the film than with it.