It's not always easy for an actor to make the transition to
directing. Just ask Ryan Gosling whose debut Lost River totally face-planted
recently. Sometimes it's best to start simple, or at the very least to stick
with a scope that has been an integral part of one's career. Chris Messina, who
was an indie stalwart long before he hit it big on The Mindy Project, has stuck to
what he knows best with the affectionate and flawed drama, Alex of Venice, a small film
that relies on the strength of its core performances.
The chief reason to see the film is Mary
Elizabeth Winstead, adding to her recent string of compelling lead roles. With
expressive face, wide eyes and easy smile, she always makes you want to
champion whatever character she's playing, even the ones that are a bit rough
around the edges. Certainly that's the case for Alex, a hard-working
environmental attorney with a stay-at-home husband (Messina) and a young son
(Skylar Gaertner) she had as a teenager. Alex doesn't see her kid enough;
certainly doesn't appreciate her husband enough, and also has to deal with her
pot-smoking father (Don Johnson), an actor who can never remember to take his
medication. When her husband grows sick of the arrangement and splits, it
becomes clear pretty quick just how much he was holding things together. Not
that she ever had much of a work/life balance before, but now it's completely
out of whack.
You can probably figure where things go. Alex of Venice is a film about starting over, taking
chances, and learning to look at life's glass as half-full. That's as new
experience and hurdles confront her at every turn. We learn she's only ever had
sex with her husband, so suddenly being single opens up a whole new world of
opportunities. And her father, who is studying for a stage role in Chekov's
dour The Cherry Orchard, is suddenly more absent-minded than your typical
stoner. Plus there's the frantic presence of Alex's flighty sister Anya
(co-writer Katie Nehra), who sort of fills the gaps taking care of her son.
Messina time in front of the camera
clearly has influenced his decisions behind it as he gives the cast room to
breathe, allowing them to flesh out the characters in ways the screenplay
occasionally doesn't. Being genuine isn't this film's problem; it's small-scale
and lovely to look at with characters that are imperfect and vulnerable. A
bigger issue is that the screenwriters consistently underplay key moments in
Alex's journey of self-discovery. On the one hand it works when she begins
dating the handsome defendant (Derek Luke) in her latest case, and the fact
he's African-American never comes up once. On the other hand, that she is
basically jumping into bed with him a couple of minutes after realizing she's
only had sex with one guy trivializes her predicament. While Don Johnson gives
another solid turn, and an underplayed one given his recent roles in Cold in July and Django
Unchained, but his Alzheimer's storyline here is never fully developed.
It's contrasted ham-handedly with his performance in The Cherry Orchard which is
about finding new ways to give life meaning.
Rating: 3 out of 5
