Jack and I really liked this leisurely comedy about a middle-aged couple, each having an affair, surprised to discover sparks of lust and affection for each other. Tracy Letts and Debra Winger are terrific as poor communicators Michael and Mary (Letts, who will be 52 this summer but here looks age appropriate for Winger's youthful 62, was last blogged for Indignation; and Winger, who I wrote was understated in Rachel Getting Married, was Oscar-nominated for Terms of Endearment (1983), The Sheltering Sky (1990), and Shadowlands (1993), the latter of which I don't think I saw, also was great in Urban Cowboy (1980), An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Cannery Row (1982), Legal Eagles (1986), Black Widow (1987), and Forget Paris (1995)). Also wonderful are Melora Walters (good in Dead Poets Society (1989), Boogie Nights (1997), Magnolia (1999), and 43 episodes of Big Love) and Aiden Gillen (most recently in Sing Street) as their needy paramours Lucy and Robert.
The sly work here by director/writer Azazel Jacobs (last helmed and co-wrote the story for Terri) has been compared by many to a French film. I appreciated the kitchens--Mary and Michael's has two 30" gas ranges side by side and Robert's has a distinctive tile backsplash--perhaps due to the work of production designer Sue Tebbutt, or perhaps due to a clever location scout (it was shot in Santa Clarita, northwest of LA).
The retro symphonic score by Mandy Hoffman, who also scored Terri, can be streamed on spotify. Yesterday it was also on youtube, but today it has been removed for copyright reasons, most likely because the album is for sale at the usual outlets. The soundtrack includes a cover of It Must be Love sung by Letts (track 19 on the spotify playlist), which was a 1981 hit for the band Madness (video), performed in 1972 by its composer Labi Soffre (video), and is listed on imdb as being in eleven other movies.
We are firmly in line with Rotten Tomatoes' critics, averaging 87%, and not its audiences at 43.
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