I really had no interest in seeing this movie when it first came out. Despite the fact that everyone seemed to love, love, love it, I was skeptical.
For starters, I loathed the hand drawn, kitschy poster. So much that I refused to use it to illustrate this post. It was totally aimed at the hipsters, yelling "I'm quirky and adorable!" and I generally feel that anything that tries that hard to let you know it's quirky really isn't. The declaration of a script by Dave Eggers turned me off too. I generally like the man's writing, but he can be way too emo, and being a screenwriting aficionado, it's rare a screenwriter gets prominent billing like that, unless of course you're pandering to a specific audience. Also, being a quirky film about a pregnant girl, it obviously reminded me a lot of "Juno," which, I have to be honest, I didn't really love.
But it came up in a Netflix suggestion, and everyone did have good things to say, and even though I don't watch "The Office," John Krasinski fascinates me, so I figured what the hell. I'm glad I did. Much like "Adventureland," the shitty marketing overshadowed a really great film.
Burt and Verona are in their early 30s and six months pregnant. They are perfectly lovely and sane. No one else in this movie is, but that's most of the fun. Burt's parents drop the bomb that they're moving to Belgium and won't be around to help out with the baby, and as they are the only reason Burt and Verona live where they are, the two go on a road trip to find a new place to live. A change of scenery, perhaps with friends nearby. They go to Phoenix: Allison Janney is perfection as always. They go to Wisconsin: Maggie Gyllenhaal is a psychopath, and I wonder how much of a stretch from her actual self. They go to Montreal, my favorite city, and meet the Benetton family, which is so very Montreal.
The journey they take is less of one to decide on a place to live as it is to figure out what sort of family they want to become. They meet parents who are too close to their kids, and parents who aren't close enough. It's a journey of self-discovery, but one they take together, which is really sweet.
Burt and Verona are darling. They're not unhappy but they don't know if they should be something more than they are. At one point, Verona asks Burt, "Are we losers? I feel like we're losers." I can relate to that. Their relationship is quite realistic, even though devoid of conflict.
No, the movie isn't perfect. It is whimsical and sometimes overly twee. The supporting characters are very one dimensional, but it works to support the main characters' journey and that's the most important point.
Despite my initial skepticism, I loved this movie. Love, love, love. It's a beautiful little snapshot of two people who are lost, but still have each other.
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