BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
This was one of the bigger “independent darling” movies of the year. It doesn’t even feel “independent” being it stars very well-known people and surely had a budget more than a couple million. If anything it’s independent in “tone” and “style”. Whatever. A movie is a movie and this is a damn good one. Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars as a middle aged woman who is sorta just adrift in life. Her daughter is leaving home and she’s alone and is a chiropractor for a living. She goes to a party and gains a client and meets a man. The man is a bigger guy who is also alone and looking. They go out and gradually start to really appreciate each other. Things are all good and well until she finds out that her new client is problematic to the blossoming relationship. It’s a good story with a lot of heart. It’s not a big popcorn movie or lots of laughs, but it’ll make you smile. What more can you ask for? Then there’s one BIG aspect to his movie that I’m tip-toeing over. This is one of James Gandolfini’s best performances. I’m a fan of James Gandolfini. I think he was a really good actor who seemed like a great guy. He was amazing as Tony Soprano, a role that only a giant presence of a man could have pulled off. He was a big guy, but you could tell behind his squashing demeanor was a really kind heart. In interviews he came off as a man who was approachable and down to earth. I don’t think he got nearly enough chances to show off his more human side. He is always going to be “Tony Soprano”, but movies like this show glimpses of what this man could have delivered. As the love-lost man who falls for a chiropractor, he opens himself up to the ultimate of vulnerabilities. He just lives and reacts. He shows an emotive range that makes you want to just bear hug the guy. For someone who established his fame as a vindictive mobster, this is pretty cool. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is great in this, but see it for Gandolfini. See it for both. See it for the story. Just see it. A-
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