Writing a film for a certain generation is not an uncommon thing, filmmakers have been doing it forever. You have the animated films aimed at the younger audience, those teen comedies aimed for the teenage crowds, and of course all of those movies for the twenty and thirty-somethings. With such a large untapped market for the baby boomers, you know it was only a matter of time before those movies would start getting made. With last years “Last Vegas” things seemed to get it going, and with so many great actors to choose from, you know more are coming.
While “Last Vegas” was a guy’s night out type of film, it is time for a romantic comedy, because love knows no age. Oren (Michael Douglas) is not a happy man at all. He is a realtor who is trying to sell his own house as he readies to spend his life alone after his wife’s passing a few years ago. He lives in an apartment building by the water, where all of his neighbors hate him. His next-door neighbor Leah (Diane Keaton) is also dealing with the passing of her spouse but is still a people person, unlike grumpy old Oren. A change is needed in Oren’s life, and that change comes when Oren’s son has to leave his daughter Sarah (Sterling Jerins) with him because he has to go away. Oren does not want to watch his granddaughter, luckily Leah doesn’t mind, and her and Sarah get along perfectly. Sarah though is the perfect ice melter, because soon Oren’s eyes are open up to the all the things he still has in his life.
Twenty years ago the combination of a film directed by Rob Reiner and staring Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton would be an automatic hit, but times have changed. Mainly because they are not the box office draw they once were, but that does not mean they are not as entertaining as usual, unless you are talking about this movie. You would think with that combination of veteran power added with writer Mark Andrus (As Good As it Gets) you would have a great movie, but that is far from the case. For the first half of the movie Douglas’s character is about as unlikeable as you can be. Even with the constant bright light that she is, Keaton can’t offset the grumpy old man that is Douglas. I know that he is supposed to be that way in order for you to see the transformation he goes through, but it just doesn’t work very well. Add the story line dealing with Sarah’s mother that get’s open and dropped with out any mention of it anywhere else in the story seems sloppy. With that all said, I am not the intended audience, and for an older crowd this film will probably play very well. However, just because a film plays to its intended crowd, doesn’t make it a good film, and with “And So it Goes” that is very true. You always hope for the best when entering a movie, and I did so with this one, but sometimes even the greats can fail to hit the target now and then.
