Juliet, Naked

A romantic comedy with very little to no romance in it. Rose Byrne was miscast - she's way too good looking to believe as so romantically hard up. Chris O'Dowd was funny but had the unfortunate role as the irritating dweeb boyfriend. And I never believed the romance between Rose and Ethan Hawke. They didn't spend enough time convincing us that they could basically fall in love through email and a short stressful visit. She acted too hard up and he obviously just wanted to sleep with her. To cap it off, as with every movie about a made up rock star we have to endure the most boring mundane tunes as the rockers music.

Rose Byrne and Chris O'Dowd are a long-time couple living in a seaside town in this winning film about music fandom and romantic rejuvenation. She's a museum curator in her local area. He's a classics professor who, in his spare time, devotes his life to discussing and extolling the music of a legendary rock star who disappeared from performing and from making albums two decades ago. O'Dowd's character has even created an online forum for the rock star's most rabid fans. The couple's relationship begins to take a turn when the rock star (Ethan Hawke, ever reliable in his charisma) attempts a career resurgence. A film about a faded rock star coming back out of the shadows is not a new theme, but here it feels so crisp. Hawke's performance is perfect, as are Byrne and O'Dowd, a seeming odd couple whose devotion is showing signs of strain. O'Dowd's character is quite funny when he keeps finding out new information about his idol. Although there are romantic comedies on the subject of music and midlife perspective, this one proves extra eloquent and engaging. It's not just a film about finding love. It's also about discovering the difference between a fan's rose-colored glasses and reality; a dinner scene captures this theme brilliantly. Even if the rest of the film hadn't been any good (which is not the case), I still would have recommended this film on the strength of that scene alone. This film has gotten only lukewarm reviews so far, which is odd. I am hopeful that audiences and other critics will give it the recognition it deserves. Gladly recommended.

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source: Juliet, Naked

My wife and I watched this at home on DVD from our public library. We both found it a very worthwhile movie, a bit underrated in my opinion. It is set and filmed mostly in England, including London, with brief scenes in New York. Chris O'Dowd is Duncan Thomson who in almost all of his spare time obsesses over an American singer/songwriter who was popular 25 years earlier and has essentially disappeared. He and others frequently hold podcast discussions and speculate on where the musician might be. He has a live-in girlfriend, Rose Byrne as Annie Platt. She feels Duncan neglects their relationship, rightly so, and on a whim posts a contrarian, somewhat negative comment to Duncan's website. Then she gets a surprise response, supportive of her views, from none other than the long-missing musician. Ethan Hawke is that musician, Tucker Crowe. Basically he thinks all the adoration he receives is silly, himself having low regard for his early work. As fate would have it his British daughter is having a baby requiring him to travel to London where he and Annie will have a chance to meet. The story gets a bit complicated but in a good, interesting way. Annie is approaching 40, she has no children, she is afraid life is passing her by. Tucker feels he has frittered his life away and approaching 50 wants to have another chance. Good story, authentic acting, a meaningful movie with lots of funny moments sprinkled in.

In the bonus track of the DVD of "Juliet, Naked," the film producers described their intent to focus on the story of a minor rock star named Tucker Crowe. At the height of his career, he mysteriously walked out on an audience at a night club in Minneapolis, before vanishing into rural Pennsylvania where he allegedly worked on a sheep farm. During the erratic period of his life as a musician, he fathered a number of children with various women. The filmmakers wanted to explore the character's "self-loathing failure as a father." While the character of Tucker Crowe was effectively performed by Ethan Hawke, the more interesting facet of the comedy was how the legend of Tucker had evolved into an obsession for one of his fans, a college teacher named Duncan. It was clear from the classroom scene that Duncan teaches popular culture, yet does not have a clue as to whether he is communicating accurate information to his students. He had gleaned most of his "facts" about Tucker from gossip on the internet. One of big payoffs of the film is when Duncan finally meets Tucker and realizes that he knows virtually nothing about the man or the backstory of his life and music. In this regard, the film is a terrific parody on academia today where the classes in "cultural studies" are exactly like the silliness portrayed in the film. In the extras segment of the DVD, the filmmakers described how they wanted to build the film around the character of Rose, Duncan's partner, who eventually meets Tucker inadvertently when he responds to Rose's internet post that derived from an argument she had with Duncan. Indeed, Rose becomes the pivotal character who draws Tucker back into the world of recording. The triangulated relationship of Duncan, Rose, and Tucker is the basis for the heartwarming romance, as well as for the film's quirky humor. The children of Tucker, with whom he has had little contact over the years, reunite in a wild and wacky scene in the hospital after Tucker suffers a minor heart attack. Rose is childless and has always dreamed of being a mother. While Tucker seeks to make amends for his past as a father, it is possible that Rose may find meaning in her life by entering into the complicated family dynamic of Tucker. The film was successful as a roller coaster ride of offbeat humor and zany situations. The filming in the idyllic seaside town of Sandcliff on the North Sea provided a charming backdrop for this wholesome and idiosyncratic comedy. Due to the good performances and the crisp direction, "Juliet, Naked" is a sleeper with some genuinely heartfelt moments.

"Irresistible", "Delightful", "Warm", "Smart", "Funny", "Charming"! These are the adjectives used to describe Juliet, Naked on the front of its DVD box. There are moments throughout the film that do reflect such descriptive words, but in all honesty, the distributors should have also added awkward and (mildly) disappointing. Can I say at the outset, if you've seen the trailer, which I found quite attracting, you've arguably seen the funniest parts of the movie and heard the most humorous lines. The trailer posits the movie as a kind of light-hearted romp. It's really anything but that. Juliet Naked tells the story of a quietly appealing museum curator Annie and her relationships with 2 extremely immature, though somewhat likeable men. Chris O'Dowd plays her long term and obviously out of touch partner Duncan, a college teacher who is obsessed with Tucker Crowe played by Ethan Hawke, an obscure musician whose last work was released 25 years ago. Through the course of the narrative we see Annie spending time with both men and its pretty obvious with all their extremely well-detailed shortcomings, neither will satisfy her in the long run. She finally decides to take matters into her own hands, which I figure she had every right to do, about 80 minutes earlier the she does. The leads give it their all and the fact that the film ultimately doesn't work is through no fault of theirs. Rose Byrne in particular is just captivating (arguably more than the character of Annie should be) and really holds the film together. Her scenes with Jackson, Tucker's 6 year old son are especially noteworthy, in gently expressing her desire to have a child of her own. Chris O' Dowd and Ethan Hawke both also have their moments, but their characters, as written, are just so disagreeable, especially the very self-absorbed Duncan. And we find that Tucker comes with enough baggage to warrant a degree in railway portering. The script based on a book by Nick Hornby, needed to be a few shades lighter in tone. There are some pleasant moments. The locations are great especially those set on the English coast. Tucker's somewhat chaotic familial dysfunction revealed during his hospital stay is certainly amusing. And the musical highlight of Tucker agreeing to play Waterloo Sunset at the museum anniversary is well nigh enchanting for a few brief minutes. But ironically some of the funnier scenes occur in the post credits segment (set a year later) of Duncan reviewing the latest Tucker Crowe release. For the movie itself, it hits the right notes, but it all comes too late.