Enough Said

Photo from nydailynews.com

Nicole Holofcener, director and writer

Starring: Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Eva), James Gandolfini (Albert), Catherine Keener (Marianne), Toni Collette (Sarah), Ben Falcone (Will), Tracey Fairaway (Ellen), Tavi Gevinson (Chloe), Eve Hewson (Tess)

The buzz

Lots!

The public and the media have a huge interest in this, James Gandolfini’s penultimate film. The star of The Sopranos was transitioning into bigger movie roles and it was anticipated that his appearance in a comedy, Enough Said, could propel him further in his film career. His death last summer of a heart attack robbed him, and his public, of a fine actor and a burgeoning career.

Matching two of TV’s most high profile actors, Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine Benes in Seinfeld) with Gandolfini is surely a “buzz worthy” pairing.

And Nicole Holofcener is a critical darling, well liked for such previous sophisticated dialogue-based films as Walking and Talking, Please Give and Friends with Money.

The genres

Romantic comedy; “empty nest” anxiety; love among early Zoomers

The premise

Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays Eva, a masseuse and divorced mother of Ellen, a teenager who is about to go to college away from home. Accompanying her friend and confidant, psychologist Sarah (Toni Collette) and her husband Will (Ben Falcone) to a big party, she meets separately Marianne (Catherine Keener), a renowned poet and Albert (Gandolfini), a TV archivist and historian. She likes both of them.

Albert starts taking Eva on dates and soon the two are having an affair. Albert, too, is divorced and facing an empty nest; his daughter Tess is also about to go away to university. At the same time, Eva begins to develop a friendship with Marianne, who has become a masseuse client. It turns out that Marianne is wise and highly respected. The only person she really dislikes is her ex-husband.

At last, the awful truth emerges: Eva is dating Marianne’s former hubby. Yep, that likeable Albert is also the casual slob who never understood the poetic Marianne.

Enough Said revolves around this intriguing Zoomer-oriented issue: Can you find true love with someone who has had failed?