Director: Philip Seymour
Hoffman
Writer: Robert Glaudini
(also play)
Starring: Philip Seymour
Hoffman, Amy Ryan, John Ortiz, Daphne Rubin-Vega
I often wonder why every
romance that isn’t a tired Hollywood formula has to be so pessimistic about
love. There is such thing as real love, true love. There are people who just
love each other. It isn’t a fairy tale. Life is always getting in the way of
happiness, but it’s the other elements that get in the way, not the love. That
love isn’t always tested. Often it’s the strength that gets you through.
Philip Seymour Hoffman’s “Jack
Goes Boating”, based on the play by Robert Glaudini, depicts an early love
against a veteran couple who’s love is being tested by each other. The seasoned
pair could put the new couple, played by Hoffman and Amy Ryan of “The Office”,
off their love; but they don’t. There’s a sweetness in the pairing of Hoffman
and Ryan that you might not expect from these character actors who often play
not so fuzzy people. Both are somewhat stunted socially, but they’re aware they’ve
found a matching soul in the other.
The movie’s perspective on
love reminded me a little bit of “Away We Go”, the movie starring John Krasinski
and Maya Rudolph from a couple of years ago where an expecting couple visits
relatives and friends to decide what environment would be best in which to
raise their child. That movie was criticized, unjustly in my opinion, of
presenting its lovers as superior to the couples they were compared against.
That is certainly the case with “Jack Goes Boating”. This new couple is
superior to the other couple. Why? Simply because they’re discovering they love
each other, while the other couple is discovering they don’t any more.
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