Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke and Chris O’Dowd sparkle in the affable romantic comedy Juliet, Naked. This rom com has a fresh premise – boy loses girl and finds her pursued instead by his lifelong idol. But the core of the film is, is it ever too late to jump start your life?
Annie (Byrne) lives what has become a very unsatisfying life in a British beach resort. Upon her father’s death, she returned to her hometown to help raise her little sister and the take over her father’s tiny museum. She fell in love with the local professor Duncan (O’Dowd), and they’ve been living together for over a decade. But now the sister is grown, she’s outgrown the museum, and the self-absorbed Duncan just doesn’t care about her opinions or her wants. She’s very unhappy – and it’s all sneaked up on her.
Duncan, on the other hand, is completely fulfilled by his obsessive fandom for the pop singer-songwriter Tucker Crow, who disappeared into seclusion twenty years ago. He’s filled a room of their apartment with Tucker Crowe memorabilia, and lives for the online discussions that he moderates discussions on his Tucker Crowe website. He derives status and gratification from being the world’s leading self-appointed authority on Tucker Crowe. He is a major league bloviator. In the movies, O’Dowd always seems so lovable; here, he;s successful in stretching himself into an unsympathetic character.
Tucker Crowe (Hawke), is living in an exile of self-loathing. Whereas Annie has settled for a life she no longer wants, Tucker has blown his life up with bad choices. After fathering several kids with several mothers – and abandoning them – he is now trying for redemption as the stay-at-home dad for his youngest, an eight-year-old boy. It turns out that one act of bad behavior in particular has – to him – discredited all his hit songs.
A turn of events lead to Annie kicking out Duncan, and Annie and Tucker – two unhappy and lonely people – meet online. Comedy and romance ensues. Among the funnier moments are when Duncan meets Tucker in real life, when Tucker stumbles into Duncan’s Tucker Crowe shrine and when all of Tucker’s exes and progeny descend on Tucker and Annie in a hospital room.
Ethan Hawke, who is a fair musician, nails a sweet cover of The Kinks’ Waterloo Sunset. Hawke also performs many of the songs on the soundtrack, including a very fun punk anthem during the closing credits.
Overall, I liked Juliet, Naked as an agreeable romp. The Wife recommends it as a home video watch, not for a special trip to the theater.
The Wife also said she was distracted by all the clumsy efforts to hide Rose Byrne’s pregnancy – extra-roomy dresses and Byrne’s awkwardly front-carrying duffels and all manner of objects. I didn’t notice, but Byrne did gave birth in November 2017, so I assume that The Wife was once, again, far more observant than I.
