Thursday, July 28, 2022

Jerry & Marge Go Large (2022)

Jack and I really liked this story of a real man in his 60s who figures out how to profit from a state lottery and brings his wife and many others in on the scheme to win millions. Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening are adorable as the title characters, as are Larry Wilmore, Rainn Wilson, and others.

David Frankel directs from Brad Copeland's screenplay, which was adapted from/inspired by Jason Fagone's 2018 Huffington Post article. I read the article after watching the movie and suggest you wait, too. I learned the movie changed some details, none of which bothered me. In fact, they made a better story. That said, I thought that the characters of Marge and Jerry did act older than the early 60s they were said to be. Perhaps, however, that's how folks acted in their actual place and time––Evart, Michigan just after the turn of this century. 

Whoa, news flash: in Andrea Estes' and Scott Allen's 2012 Boston Globe article that preceded Fagone's article, Marge is said to be "70-something." That makes their behavior more believable. The drier Globe story concentrates more on the lottery and is not credited for the movie, while the Huff Post article is about the people: Marge and Jerry Selbee.

Although I found a playlist of the songs, I don't think there's a link to the score by Jake Monaco.

Atlanta locations stood in for Michigan and Massachusetts, with cinematography by Maryse Alberti.

Cranston was last blogged for The Upside, Bening for The Seagull, Wilmore for Dinner for Schmucks (besides lots of TV acting, writing, and creating), Frankel for Hope Springs, and Alberti for The Kitchen

Wilson is best known for 188 episodes of The Office and, besides many TV roles, has acted in a handful of movies that I haven't seen. Copeland wrote 19 episodes of Grounded for Life, six of Arrested Development, and eight of Life in Pieces, to name a few.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics have shrunk to 65% but its audiences are bigger at 78. We thought it was sweet when we watched on June 28 on Paramount+.

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