“Darling Companion” – maybe not [MOVIE REVIEW]
Diane Keaton, Elisabeth Moss, and Kasey (the dog) in “Darling Companion. Photo by Wilson Webb/Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
“Darling Companion,” written by Lawrence Kasdan and his wife Meg and directed by Lawrence Kasdan, must have seemed like a good idea at the time. I’m sure he pitched this as the characters from “The Big Chill” grow up, become empty nesters who are no longer in touch with their feelings, and have grown glacially apart. That sounds pretty good, even to me.
Instead what we get is this: the frustrated wife of a frigid surgeon risks life and limb (well, only if you consider parking on the shoulder of an interstate to constitute mortal risk), rescues a dog on the side of the highway and begins to obsess about the dog, now called Freeway. The dog comes to represent the children no longer living at home and the vessel through which the frustrated wife can convey her feelings since her husband no longer seems to care. When, at the wedding of their daughter at their cabin in the mountains, said unfeeling husband loses track of the dog while on his cell phone (the unfeeling husband is on the phone, not the dog), his wife goes ballistic and commandeers everyone to search for the dog, bringing everyone together and solving all their problems.
Along the way we are subjected to an oversexed gypsy psychic whose visions are always wrong but whose beauty attracts the nephew of the unfeeling husband. Adding spice to the group is the dippy sister of the unfeeling husband who is now attached to an unemployed loser who, of course, has more substance than the rest of them. Oh, and he wants them all to invest in his latest venture – an English pub in Omaha because… there are no English pubs in Omaha.
I could go on, but then you’d end up as bored and annoyed as I was with the film. To say that I expected more depth from Kasdan is an understatement. Apparently inspired by the time the Kasdans lost their mutt in the high Rockies, I would have preferred that they shared their slides of the trip and not subjected me to this film.
The amount of talent wasted in this shallow, predictable tale is very impressive. Kevin Kline, looking supercilious, plays the unfeeling husband; Diane Keaton, at her most hysterical (not in the fun sense) plays his neglected wife. Dianne Wiest is the sister and Richard Jenkins (the only character that actually grows on you in the positive and not mossy sense) plays the loser with more substance than the others. In a truly disposable role, Sam Shepard is the sheriff of the mountain town more interested in fly fishing than anything around him (I understood the feeling and I’m a lousy fly fisherman) and Ayelet Zurer is gifted with the most irritating role among the innumerable irritating roles, so at that she at least excels, playing the intuitive gypsy who’s always wrong. A special mention should, however, be given to Kasey the dog who played Freeway. At the very least, he cleaned up well.
Go at your own risk. As for me, I’d rather find “The Big Chill” on television and settle in with some popcorn and a glass of wine.
Opening April 20 at the ArcLight Hollywood and the Landmark. Neely also writes a blog about writers in television and film at http://www.nomeanerplace.com.