98 minute running time so the perfect length, but it’s pretty slow, I had to watch it at 1.5x ffwd. A story about marriage, adultery, and friendship. Two youngish couples: 1) Older brother from Six Feet Under (Peter Krause) and Naomi Watts (yes, another in my Naomi Watts’ series of movies), and 2) gorgeous Mark Ruffalo and Laura Dern (Bruce’s skinny-ass daughter).
Mark and Naomi are having an affair. Both couples have young children. Both men teach at the local community college. Peter is a frustrated writer, Mark grades the occasional paper. Naomi drives an old Mercedes station wagon, so she has family money; there is a scene where she gets a check from her Mom. Laura Dern is broke, so there is a money/class angle they touch on, though briefly.
It’s a small town (Vancouver), Mark and Naomi would be found out immediately — it’s unrealistic. Later Peter Krause and Laura Dern start screwing … Bruce’s skinny-ass daughter looks like the Wild Witch of the West even when she isn’t screeching. Painful to watch these couples as they contemplate splitting up (since they have kids, otherwise I wouldn’t care). Gets complicated, arty drama, very restrained, educated white people stuff. You know, boring.
It wasn’t terrible, just sort of blah, who cares. Yellow rating at best.
Eleanor Ringel Cater got it right: “A movie as empty as its title. A lot of good acting is going on, but there's nobody home.”
