Broadway Therapy

I feel as if the director tried to imitate Woody Allen. Not only did he hire a relatively good number of interesting actors, but he also made dialogues the main focus of the movie. But they aren’t worth much and everything is being salvaged by Jennifer Aniston, who for the first time ever doesn’t look 20 but she looks her age, which I think was mainly due to her hairstyle. The film didn’t bring any more interesting findings and so I was happy that I even managed to finish it. (15.06.2016)

Nope, I can't do that to director Bogdanovich and this time I'm not handing out any stars. I would be too stingy and I consider Bogdanovich a director of excellent social dramas, like The Last Picture Show or Paper Moon. But this time, after just a few minutes, I felt that something was off. Making a conversational film with boring dialogue is the road to hell. The casting of Owen Wilson is basically a diagnosis in my eyes because I regularly miss out on his films where he gets a more significant role. I don't know if it's because he's unlucky with his roles or if his cuckoo mannerisms are just so annoying to me, but there simply isn't any chemistry between him and me. I watched half of the film without interest and realized that, with the highest probability, the second half wouldn't give me more than the first, so I gave up watching it with a clear conscience. I consider this comedy to be a typical case of a film that evokes a feeling of helplessness in all those involved in its production. As someone mentioned in a comment here, perhaps the most interesting thing is Jennifer Aniston's change of hairstyle, which I didn't even recognize at first. It's the first time since Friends that I felt she had detached herself from Rachel in terms of her appearance. (08.12.2016)

Die Rückkehr der klassischen Komödie mit allem, was dazugehört – mit vielen Stars (besonders Jennifer Aniston und Rhys Ifans sind großartig), einem schlauen Drehbuch, das im Laufe der Zeit immer schneller wird, und mit einer Regie, für welche die Arbeit mit dem Drehbuch kein Problem ist und die es hundertprozentig ausnutzen kann. Leider ist es heute so, dass viele Zuschauer*innen solche Filme nicht mehr zu schätzen wissen und dass sie nur den kurzen Auftritt von Quentin Tarantino interessant finden. Das macht mich ein bisschen traurig. (07.02.2016)

The only highlights for me were Michael Shannon and Quentin Tarantino's cameos. Otherwise, this comedy fell flat for me. I usually enjoy this type of movie; I mean, I uncritically loved Oscar (1991). However, watching this one made me realize how much I didn't enjoy the comedic scenes. Jennifer Aniston's character felt overly affected and more annoying than funny. / Lesson learned: Respect prostitutes. Their job is not easy and you never know... (14.06.2022)