Almost nothing unexpected happens in “And So It Goes.”
Hold on. I’m mentally flipping through each scene.
Let me rephrase that: Absolutely nothing unexpected happens in “And So It Goes.” When we meet each of the main characters and get a feel for who they are, we know exactly where they’re going and who will be accompanying them on their journey.
Like “Something’s Gotta Give,” “The Bucket List,” “Stand Up Guys,” “Last Vegas” and a number of other films we’ve seen over the past decade or so featuring some of the biggest stars of the 1970s expertly cruising through roles that hardly challenge their skill sets, “And So It Goes” is the cinematic equivalent of comfort food.
The pleasure comes from experiencing the fine performances and semi-frequent smile-inducing dialogue, bolstered in no small fashion by the wonderful comedic timing of Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton, two Oscar-winning icons who had never shared a single scene on film until now.
Veteran director Rob Reiner, a long way removed from the amazing 1984-to-1995 streak when he directed “This Is Spinal Tap,” “Stand by Me,” “The Princess Bride,” “When Harry Met Sally,” “Misery,” “A Few Good Men” and “The American President,” moves things along nicely here, giving the excellent cast room to act and transitioning from scene to scene on predictable but serviceable beats. Everyone looks great. Everyone has more than a few turns to step up to the plate and be the center of attention.
Douglas’ Oren Little is a Connecticut real estate agent in the last days of his career. Once Oren unloads the massive estate he once shared with his wife and son (he’s asking $8 million plus), he’ll retire to Vermont and basically retire from all human contact. (We often hear about “First World problems.” A rich guy trying to unload his $8 million mansion so he can sip cocktails and watch sunsets for the rest of his days? Yeah, that fits the bill.)
Oren doesn’t like people (or even dogs), and people don’t like him, and that’s just the way he wants it. In the decade since Oren’s wife passed away from cancer, Oren has crawled into a pitcher of martinis, surfacing only to lob insults to his neighbors in the lakeside fourplex, including Keaton’s Leah, a lovely, sweet widow who works as a lounge singer, favoring old crooning chestnuts such as “Blue Moon,” “Cheek to Cheek” and “It Could Happen to You.” (Reiner plays Leah’s accompanist, who sports the kind of obviously comical toupee one rarely sees outside the movies and TV.)
Scott Shepherd plays Oren’s estranged son, Luke, who’s about to serve time for a drug-related offense. (We hear some about Luke’s irresponsible behavior during his years-long struggle with addiction, and he is about to spend some time in the Big House, but he still seems like just about the nicest and most benign felon you’ll ever see in the movies.)
Luke asks Oren to take care of his 10-year-old daughter, Sarah (Sterling Jerins), a granddaughter Oren didn’t even know existed. As Luke explains it, there’s no one else who can do it (Sarah’s mother is a junkie), and if Oren doesn’t agree to take custody, Sarah will go into the foster care system.
And just like that, we’ve got an incorrigible crab charged with taking care of an adorable 10-year-old girl, with the help of the widowed lounge singer who literally lives next door. If you can’t connect the dots, let me get you another pen.
A few scenes in “And So It Goes” misfire badly. The worst is when Oren and Leah take Sarah to see her mother, who’s so strung out she literally can’t stand up. The attempt at gritty comes across as melodramatic and overplayed. But then we’re back to the light and fluffy stuff, whether it’s Oren offering to become Leah’s agent (“I’ve sold houses older than you, and in a lot worse condition”), Oren learning some revealing truths about his son or Oren rediscovering his heart.
And so it goes for 94 minutes. This is one of the rare movies trying to connect with the older crowd that still loves to go to the cinema and watch great stars do their thing. Rated PG-13.
