Juliet, Naked is the sort of traditional and appealing romantic comedy that has been entertaining audiences for years. We’ve seen the formula before and we roughly know the ultimate outcome; it’s the journey of getting there that has to be unique enough to make it all worthwhile, and that’s why this movie succeeds.
Directed by Jesse Peretz (Our Idiot Brother – love that movie!) and co-adapted from Nick Hornby’s book by the POWER quartet of Tamara Jenkins, Jim Taylor, Phil Alden Robinson, and Evgenia Peretz, the film stars the absolutely adorable (not to mention hilarious) Rose Byrne as a woman who is left unsatisfied (mentally and physically) by her boyfriend (Chris O’Dowd, very funny as usual) as he’d rather spend his time obsessing over a cult-90’s rocker (Ethan Hawke, always superb) who has gone into hiding.
The film takes its title from one of the albums featured in the narrative; I’m still not sure if it was the 100% best fit, though.
But when the music man and the lady meet, sparks fly, and you aren’t ever exactly sure how it’ll all play out because the script throws in some nice unexpected moments, and Peretz’s direction is very assured, as he shows great comedic timing as a storyteller.
This is the sort of item that studios used to be in the business of making – the easy-going, star-driven rom-com – and it’s asinine to think that this was buried last summer, only grossing $4 million in theaters.
There’s something wrong with the machine when a film this enjoyable, not to mention produced by Judd Apatow, barely makes a blip on the theatrical radar. Juliet, Naked is available on Blu-ray/DVD and via various streaming providers.
Review by Nick Clement
Summary
A slick and pretty looking film, shot with low-key style by Remi Adefarasin.
