Audiences cannot be blamed if they think Miramax’s "Playing By Heart" is a blah movie. Afterall, if a film boasts such a powerhouse ensemble cast and is any good, why didn’t the Weinstein brothers give it a huge Oscar push? Why relegate it to the movie wasteland that is January?
Well, quite simply put, "Playing By Heart" is not one of those films that will win an Oscar. Huge ensemble pieces almost never get considered for any awards whatsoever (notable exception: Robert Altman’s "Short Cuts", but that ws almost two movies in one). That said, this slight, enjoyable film does have quite a lot going for it, and should have no problem finding an audience via word of mouth recommendations.
The film traces the emotional trajectories of a handful of
disparate
couples. There’s Paul and Hannah (Sean Connery and Gena
Rowlands), an
old couple on the brink of celebrating their 40th
anniversary who find
themselves suddenly mistrustful and hurt when an old,
possibly
adulterous, secret is uncovered. There’s Mark and Mildred
(Jay Mohr and
Ellen Burstyn), a dying son coming to terms with his
distant mother and
the secrets she harbors about his father. Lest it be
thought that the
film’s un-hip, there’s Joan (Angelina Jolie), a party-girl
who’s intent
on hunting down Keenan (Ryan Phillippe), a dance-club loner
who would
have nothing to do with her. Meanwhile, Meredith (Gillian
Anderson), a
control-freak theater director with a neurotic aversion to
relationships, is being pursued by an architect, Trent (Jon
Stewart),
who just won’t take "No" for an answer. Finally, there’s
Gracie
(Madeleine Stowe), a married woman involved in a passionate
but loveless
affair with Roger (Anthony Edwards), intent on keeping him
at arm’s
length even as she struggles to make up her mind about her
marriage.
Through all this, there’s a mysterious barfly Hugh (Dennis
Quaid) who
changes his story every night, confusing an assortment of
hapless
individuals (including Nastassja Kinski in an unbilled
cameo
appearance). Of course, there’s a satisfying conclusion
that ties all
these people together in a neat package, but the device is
no huge
surprise to audiences who pay attention, and is not too
much of a
gimmick to be cloying and annoying.
Willard Carroll, writing and directing his second movie, has managed to attract a whole lot of talent to this project. It’s not hard to see why, since the script is literate, snappy and sporadically funny and sad. Every character is realistically written so audiences never for a moment doubt that these people could exist in real life, and this is important in a film that seeks to explore the themes this one does. The characters’ predicaments and reactions all strike a chord, and Carroll elicits a handful of wonderful performances from every actor in his cast. The story moves along smoothly, and it’s a nicely directed dramedy that never lags.
The actors all perform well. Although Sean Connery and the always magnificent Gena Rowlands have been often cited, along with the incandescent Angelina Jolie, as the stand-outs, Gillian Anderson and Jon Stewart do remarkable good work with their hilarious characters, delivering every zinger with the right mix of playfulness and trepidation. Madeleine Stowe also imbues her under-written character with a depth not apparent from the scripted dialogue, and Dennis Quaid obviously has a good time with his enigmatic role. All of the cast interact well with each other, most notably Jay Mohr and Ellen Burstyn in their handful of scenes together. In fact, there isn’t a single performance to fault in this film at all, and most of the pleasure derived from watching this movie can be credited to the actors.
"Playing by Heart" probably won’t be a memorable film for
anyone but the
purest die hard romantic. It’s very light, buoyant and
frothy -
insubstantial fun - but while it lasts, it’s a whole lot
better than a
lot of the stuff out in the cineplexes at this time of the
year.