Ah, likability. A difficult-to-manufacture quality in a performer, one that would seem to have to emerge naturally. But it's a hoped-for and cherished characteristic that sure can help a movie if the leads have it.
So it's all the more surprising that Management, a wildly uneven romantic comedy starring Jennifer Aniston and Steve Zahn -- two enormously likable actors -- doesn't work a lot better than it does.
Must be the script.
In Management, Aniston plays Sue, a low-key traveling arts saleswoman who, on a business trip to Kingman, Arizona, stays at the Kingman Motor Inn, a motel managed at night by Mike, played by Zahn, and owned by his parents (Margo Martindale and Fred Ward).
As affable and frisky as a puppy, Mike instantly falls for the sensitive but sensible Sue and begins an immediate and relentless campaign to win her over. And he does get invited into her room.
But what looks like a romantic foothold to him is just a path-of-least-risistance whim to her.
Although he's never been outside of Kingman, goofy, impulsive Mike follows Sue to Maryland when she returns home and drops in on her at her corporate workplace. Sincere or not, his interest in and pursuit of her has pretty quickly come to resemble a form of criminal stalking.
Sue's ex -- an ex-punk rocker named Jango, played by Woody Harrelson, who's now a yogurt mogul -- is apparently still very much in her life. So much so that she moves to Aberdeen, Washington to live with him.
Does this stop Mike from pursuing her? Not even a little.
By the overly farcical and slapsticky Act III, with Mike skydiving into Jango's backyard pool, this sweet and humble little movie has embraced its the-crazier-the-better screwball side and skydived out of its own narrative plane, seeming about to crash without a pilot.
That relatively inexperienced pilot, debuting writer-director Stephen Belber, pays too much attention to the characters' off-the-wall quirks, some of which are self-consciously ladled on, and not enough to the abiding emotional truth that would make us buy the relationship between the two principals in the first place.
So, although the charming, involving movie-that-might-have-been surfaces every so often, it always pops its head back beneath the surface just as quickly.
Put another way, colorful behavior and interaction are great, but they don't mean much if there's minimal believability. And the simple truth is that we never really accept the reality of either of these two people or the attraction or connection between them.
So we have a likable Aniston (who is also part of Management's management given that she takes an executive producer credit) and a likable Zahn hoping to add up to a just-as-much-if-not-more-so likable movie.
Trouble is, two plus two does not in this case manage to equal anywhere near four.
Which is why we'll stalk 2 stars out of 4 for Management, a rom-com that mismanages its resources and labors for laughs.
Movie Reviews - Week of 11/16/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "Planet 51," "New Moon," and "The Blind Side." (3:02)
Movie Reviews - Week of 11/9/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "Precious," "2012," and "Pirate Radio." (3:02)
Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 11/13/09
This week KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at the drama "Precious," the adventure disaster "2012," and the comedy "Pirate Radio." (17:24)
Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 11/06/09
This week KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine look at the comedy-war film, "The Men Who Stare at Goats," the animated re-make, "A Christmas Carol," and the horror-mystery-thriller "The Fourth Kind." (18:45)
Movie Reviews - Week of 11/2/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "The Men Who Stare at Goats", "A Christmas Carol" and "The Fourth Kind". (3:01)
Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 10/30/09
KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at the Chris Rock documentary, "Good Hair," Michael Jackson's "This is It," and the action-crime-drama "The Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day." (17:43)
Movie Reviews - Week of 10/26/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "Good Hair", "This Is It" and "Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day". (3:00)
Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 10/23/09
KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at the animated adventure "Astro Boy," the bio-drama"Amelia," and the action-adventure-comedy "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant." (17:20)
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As affable and frisky as a puppy, Mike instantly falls for the sensitive but sensible Sue and begins an immediate and relentless campaign to win her over. And he does get invited into her room.
