Dir.
Nancy Meyers, 2003, USA, 128 mins
Cast: Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Amanda Peet, Keanu Reeves, Frances McDormand
Kick-started by The Calendar Girls last year, this could well be the 'third age' of Hollywood, when older women finally get great roles on-screen and not just as mothers and ex-wives.
On first glance, Something's Gotta Give looks like another Rom-Com vehicle for Jack Nicholson and his eyebrows. In fact it's more about Diane Keaton and her very cool character Erica Barry, for which she has been nominated Best Actress in the coming Academy Awards.
In his 60s, Harry Sanborne (Nicholson) is at the top of his league. He has owned a string of businesses including, somewhat unbelievably, the second largest hip-hop record label in the world. Naturally the trappings of success include exclusively dating gorgeous, 'uncomplicated' 20-year-olds.
Nicholson's role is a metaphor for Hollywood 's bias towards beauty and youth particularly when it comes to female protagonists. As Zöe (McDormand) suggests, while ageing men often turn to younger women, single women become more and more accomplished as they get older - but receive little recognition or male [read: cinematic] interest.
Harry and Marin (Peet) decide to gatecrash Marin's mother's beach house - the mother in question being divorced but successful playwright Erica Barry (Keaton). It's there that a combination of good living, Marin and Viagra result in a heart attack for Harry: Keaton then finds she is stuck with him while he recuperates. Meanwhile dishy doc Keanu Reeves - who has an intense crush on Erica - tells Harry that he can't have sex again until he can climb a flight of stairs: this then becomes the aged lothario's fitness goal.
Despite the mutual dislike between Erica and Harry proximity means each eventually gets under the skin of the other. Sex is an inevitable conclusion but Erica discovers that love is harder to tame. While Harry lives for inconsequential relationships, Erica can't help but let her heart rule. When he spurns her she mends her broken heart by writing a hit play based on the affair - at which point he reappears on the scene. But has he had a change of heart?
As with writer/director Meyers' What Women Want, Something's Gotta Give is an insightful exploration of the difference between men and women and what, in fact, both want from relationships. But what makes this film groundbreaking is the focus on a much older relationship: and not just as a wistful portrayal of the golden years and the apex of a relationship.
Something's Gotta Give deals with a burgeoning relationship - and with all the passion and uncertainty of the teen love more often shown on-screen. Meyers doesn't shy away from sex scenes and eroticism; Keaton's character is also caught in the nude on one very funny occasion by Harry early on in the film.
Love scenes and eroticism between senior citizens may be something of a risk to take with cinema audiences long conditioned to the body beautiful. On the other hand, Meyers has casted very cleverly, cashing in on ageing viewing populations whose tastes have moved gradually from 20-somethings (Friends) to the 30 and 40-somethings (Sex and the City). Characters like Erica Barry are perhaps the next logical step - after all, this is where would-be Carrie Bradshaws are headed.
This film has a firm dose of inspirational feminism to it. Erica Barry is a great character, and one often excluded in Western popular culture. She's a strong, independent, successful woman. And she looks great on screen. Keaton exudes charisma from the screen with all the style and captivation of Hepburn, and from an older actress, that's rather refreshing.
This isn't a film that I expected to enjoy but did, hugely. The older man/much younger woman lead pairings (Entrapment or then again anything starring Sean Connery) have become tired and tiring. Harry Sanborne's continued fascinaton at 63 for 20- and 30-somethings are perhaps unbelievable. But who cares? This is firmly Keaton's film.
Where the film falls back into the ordinary or clichés of the Romantic Comedy is in the last quarter, which is something of a shame. But that's a small fault considering the rest of the film is cute without being mawkish, heart-rending and hilarious and visually a treat. Harry labels Erica 'a woman to love'. This too is a film to love.
Ruth Bushi
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