Remember London?
No, not the city, but the 2005 drama film starring Evans in which he played a
dude totally obsessed with Jessica Biel. He spent the whole movie trying to
work up the nerve to talk to her while hanging out with Jason Statham in a
really atrocious wig. It was exasperating. Before
We Go, which marks Evans' directorial debut, is basically that same dude
only a few years older. He's still obsessed with a girl but lacks the courage
to do anything about it, so he spends the entire movie talking about his past
with her while refusing to just move on. Want to hang out with that guy all
night? Didn't think so.
A blockbuster actor with the soul of a
starving artist, Evans longs to suffer for his craft. That's only fair because
most will be suffering through Before
We Go; the handful of people who see it, anyway. Clearly inspired in just
about every way by Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise trilogy, the film is basically an
extended conversation as Brooke and Nick talk the night away. She's got some
mysterious goings on back home with her husband that remains a mystery far too
long; he is terrified of going to a party where an ex-love is bound to turn up.
Both have unresolved issues with people who have broken their heart, and they
spend the entire night chatting away about it, which wouldn't be so bad if
either was remotely interesting. But these people aren't Linklater's romantic
duo by any stretch; the most we learn about Brooke and Nick is that we really
don't want to know them any further.
While they veer into the occasional brief
discussion on fate (capped off by an on-the-nose trip to a psychic), they
really don't talk about anything but lost purses and screwed up relationships.
Nick, an aspiring jazz trumpeter with a big audition in the morning, is all
charm and zero substance. Claiming he wants to be Brooke's "hero",
Nick bends over backwards, and even takes a punch or two, to make her night
easier. But that's more than can be said for Brooke, whose one interesting
trait is that she really likes "My Funny Valentine", and even gets to
perform it during one of the film's few spirited moments. What motivates or
drives either of them to make the choices they make, or even what motivates
them to hang around one another for so long, are never remotely touched upon.
It's a night of empty words, lots of pining, plenty of whining, and very little
romantic chemistry. Individually, Evans and Eve are good, but together they're
unable to convince us of any growing attraction. And perhaps that has more to
do with the screenplay, which is somehow credited to four screenwriters. Maybe
that explains how disjointed their journey seems to be, and why nothing ever
coalesces into a believable romance.
Evans' first shot out of the gate draws
too heavily from Linklater to show much individual personality, which makes
Chris Westlake's emotionally effective score resonate even more. If only we got
to hear more of it. It was a bold gamble for Evans to make the
move to directing, and look, he isn't alone in having a dicey debut. Ryan
Gosling could tell him a thing or two about that. So could Madonna. Hopefully
this won't be enough to drive him away from what is clearly a passion.
But if Evans does decide to get behind the camera again he needs to be
himself, and it wouldn't hurt to have better material than Before We Go offers.
Rating: 1.5 out of 5
