Nostalgia Sex
Update: Steve Martin isn't playing Meryl Streep 's ex-husband in Nancy Meyers' new film -- he's the new suitor. Alec Baldwin plays her ex, which is the larger dominant role. Martin's role is essentially an extended cameo.
Original Post: During a round-table Doubt interview Meryl Streep confirmed that she's starring in Nancy Meyers' upcoming movie with Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, and provided Collider's Steve Weintraub (among others) with a synopsis:
"It's a kind of a...it's a comedy, but it has a little basis in something very real and a dilemma that people meet at a certain age. This is about a divorced couple. They have been divorced for ten years and they have three grown children in their 20s. The youngest is graduating from college. And he has moved on. He has gotten a young wife, and is embarking on his toddler marriage, new family and she hasn't really had a boyfriend in a long time. And she just meets somebody interesting just before the graduation."
Note: I worship Baldwin's wit and bile, but when you play someone in a romantic situation you need to get on the treadmill and slim down and "young up" a bit -- you can't look like a middle-aged side of bloviating beef.
"She goes to the graduation," Streep continues, "her ex-husband is there, they meet in the bar, they have a few drinks, they start dancing and he's re-smitten. And it's not clear if [this situation] is exacerbated by the presence of this other man in her life for the first time. And that's what it's about. And all the kids are very happy that everyone is together again, but it's about 'has the ship sailed at some point.' When you have a big-shared history with somebody, but you have a big break, what do you retain from that? And is it possible to fall in love again. So, that's what it's about. It's sweet. It's cool."
Trust me -- the re-smitten thing on the part of ex-husband is at least partly a competitive, put-the-new-guy-in-his-place, show-him-who's-boss type of thing. Anyone with a semblance of over-40 life experience knows that nostalgia sex is...well, some have gone there, but you can't go home again and that's that.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on December 22, 2008 at 6:38 AM
comment #1
MindlessObamaton
says ...
Does Meryl ever turn anything down?
Posted by MindlessObamaton
at December 22, 2008 7:16 AM
comment #2
Rich S.
says ...
Wasn't Diane Keaton available?
Posted by Rich S.
at December 22, 2008 7:19 AM
comment #3
Movie Watcher
says ...
It sounds interesting. Baldwin is a good actor. I hope he's in better shape than The Departed. It's not easy. I'm 50 and it's hard to keep the pounds off. I hope the dialogue isn't too cliched; good actors deserve good words.
Posted by Movie Watcher
at December 22, 2008 7:57 AM
comment #4
p.Vice
says ...
Why are movies made for older audiences, as this one clearly will be, continually allowed to be undone by weak filmmakers like Myers, the queen of unwatchable 40+ romantic sit-comedies? This sounds like a great idea but I have no doubt that it will turn out just like Myers's other films -- Hollywood cliches replacing real-life authenticity, visual drabness, a bunch of older actors trying to prove they're still in the game, smug dialogue and sentimentality overload.
On a side note: cogent observations, Wellsie.
Posted by p.Vice
at December 22, 2008 8:30 AM
comment #5
Glenn Kenny
says ...
It's a great premise for a film. Provided Claude Chabrol is directing. Nancy Meyers, not so much.
Posted by Glenn Kenny
at December 22, 2008 9:12 AM
comment #6
scooterzz
says ...
myers' movies are all about real estate...i don't know why she bothers with actors at all.....
Posted by scooterzz
at December 22, 2008 9:15 AM
comment #7
moveable hype
says ...
"Why are movies made for older audiences, as this one clearly will be, continually allowed to be undone by weak filmmakers like Myer'..well stated.
Is it too late to get someone like, say, Alexander Payne to direct?
Posted by moveable hype
at December 22, 2008 10:51 AM
comment #8
Deathtongue_Groupie
says ...
Nancy Meyers is the Uwe Boll of female romantic comedy directors.
Or put another way she is the female Joel Schmumacher.
Nothing feels me with more dread than being told by the wife she wants to see a Meyers move. I always find it a very high price to pay for the times she goes with me to a "guy movie"...way too high.
Posted by Deathtongue_Groupie
at December 22, 2008 11:45 AM
comment #9
scooterzz
says ...
actually, myers is pretty butch compared to joel schumacjher....
Posted by scooterzz
at December 22, 2008 11:50 AM
comment #10
BurmaShave
says ...
CGI Paris and the lousy third act excluded, SOMETHING"S GOTTA GIVE is an okay film. Nancy Meyers makes predictably milquetoast movies for people like my mother and her friends. She's not capable of the monstrosities Schumacher has produced,nor for that matter a film as bad as her ex-husband's AFFAIR OF THE NECKLACE.
Posted by BurmaShave
at December 22, 2008 12:46 PM
comment #11
Chicago48
says ...
Streep does manage to keep working....what's the excuse for the other over 40 y.o. actresses? And Streep chooses interesting worthy roles.
Posted by Chicago48
at December 22, 2008 1:23 PM
comment #12
TheJERMSguy
says ...
Why would Streep turn down this role? There are only 4-5 roles for actresses over 50 each year, and this can be her fun movie where she gets to hang out with Steve Martin & Alec Baldwin for nine weeks, then she can go find the next heavy award-bait movie out there. I'm looking forward to the Martin-Baldwin showdown scenes, may they crackle half as well as their SNL "showdowns" over who's hosted more.
Posted by TheJERMSguy
at December 22, 2008 1:32 PM
comment #13
CitizenKanedforChewingGum
says ...
"Nancy Meyer's is the Uwe Boll of female romantic comedy directors.
Or put another way she is the female Joel Schmuckmacher."
I hate to say it, but this might be giving her far too much credit.
Where is the enjoyable schlock on her filmography? Flatliners, Batman Forever, 8MM, Phone Booth may be (okay, are) awful films, but it's hard to keep from rubbernecking at those crash sites. And Tigerland isn't half-bad. Seriously.
Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum
at December 22, 2008 1:36 PM
comment #14
BurmaShave
says ...
I just realized how much I really hope Baldwin and Martin are playing Jack Donaghy and Gavin Volure.
Posted by BurmaShave
at December 22, 2008 1:38 PM
comment #15
CitizenKanedforChewingGum
says ...
I somehow omitted The Lost Boys from my list of guilty Schumacher "pleasures." Don't ask me how that's possible, as it's pretty much exhibit A on that subject.
Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum
at December 22, 2008 1:42 PM
comment #16
JVD
says ...
I for one am looking forward to another motion picture adaptation of the Pottery Barn catalogue.
Also, say what you will about the content of Meyers' films, she is also one of the least cost-conscious directors working today. The production costs alone on "The Holiday" were $85 million. That's just a ridiculous amount to spend on a middling romantic comedy starring Jude Law and Cameron Diaz.
Posted by JVD
at December 22, 2008 2:44 PM
comment #17
thatmovieguy
says ...
Yes, JVD but did you see the worldwide gross on THE HOLIDAY? It did OK here but huge biz in Europe and Japan. So I would guess Sony considered whatever she spent on it a good investment.
Posted by thatmovieguy
at December 22, 2008 3:05 PM
comment #18
BurmaShave
says ...
Schumacher also made two of the better John Grisham movies, though obviously Sydney Pollack made the best.
Posted by BurmaShave
at December 22, 2008 4:33 PM
comment #19
T. S. Idiot
says ...
While SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE is quite enjoyable, the other movies written and/or directed by Meyers resemble the Chris Columbus of the insufferable NINE MONTHS.
Posted by T. S. Idiot
at December 22, 2008 5:03 PM
comment #20
DeafEars
says ...
I read an interview with Meyers once - her responses were so inane and simple-minded I was actually dizzy when I put it down. She makes perfectly middlebrow movies because she is perfectly middlebrow.
Posted by DeafEars
at December 23, 2008 11:21 AM
comment #21
Josh Massey
says ...
I thought Joel Schumacher was the female Joel Schumacher.
Posted by Josh Massey
at December 23, 2008 1:14 PM
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comment #26
sahibinden
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Yes, JVD but did you see the worldwide gross on THE HOLIDAY? It did OK here but huge biz in Europe and Japan. So I would guess Sony considered whatever she spent on it a good investment.
Posted by sahibinden
at December 2, 2011 12:46 AM