As Harry Sanborn (Jack Nicholson) and Erica Barry (Diane Keaton) lie in post-coital bliss only three days after they meet, we hear the following exchange:
Harry: You know I’m not good at being monogamous, right?
Erica: Monogamous? Please. I hardly know you.
To me, those lines don’t look like much on the page, but if you can imagine Nicholson and Keaton lying in bed and saying them, you’ll probably begin to get the idea of what it was I liked about “Something’s Gotta Give” (2003), a romantic comedy written and directed by Nancy Meyers.
I never really believed the characters or the plot in the movie, but I had such a good time watching it that I didn’t much care. I was dazzled by Keaton and Nicholson, and I thought they had great screen chemistry. I found myself more than willing to overlook the film’s shortcomings because of its star power.
Nicholson’s Harry Sanborn is a 63-year-old confirmed bachelor who has dated women in their 20s for four decades, and he prepares for those dates by taking Viagra. Just as he’s making his move on a young woman, he suffers a mild heart attack. At the hospital, he lies about having taken Viagra and must then act fast to avoid a possible fatal reaction between it and the nitroglycerin they are giving him intravenously.
While Harry is recuperating, he stays at the elegant Hamptons beach house of playwright Erica Barry (Keaton), a woman of about 55 who hasn’t had sex since her divorce some years earlier. “I really thought I was sort of closed up for business,” she muses after she and Harry make love. But Harry has his own reaction to their new-found physical intimacy, saying, “Baby, I had sex three days after a heart attack, and I didn’t die. That’s gotta be some kind of a record.”
I thought Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson made a very appealing couple in this movie. Keaton was about 57 when the film was shot, and she does a brief nude scene. It’s played for comedy, but I had no trouble believing that men of all ages would find her attractive. That’s important to the story because her character becomes sexually involved with a 36-year-old physician (Keanu Reeves).
I also thought Nicholson was perfectly cast. He plays an aging, chauvinistic lothario who is lots of fun. His character’s budding romance with Keaton’s character runs into serious trouble when he tells her, “I have always told you some version of the truth.” There’s a deleted scene on the DVD where I found Jack very charming as he sings a karaoke version of “La Vie en Rose.”
I’d be remiss if I failed to mention the movie’s fine supporting cast. Keanu Reeves is excellent as the doctor who becomes Erica’s lover, Frances McDormand is funny as Erica’s feminist sister, and Amanda Peet more than holds her own as Erica’s beautiful daughter.
I found “Something’s Gotta Give” to be quite romantic, and I got some big laughs out of it. It has good dialogue, lavish sets, and high production values. Also, writer-director Nancy Meyers is clever at choosing soundtrack songs like Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On,” The Flamingos’ “I Only Have Eyes for You,” Eartha Kitt’s “C’Est Si Bon,” and Django Reinhardt’s “Brazil” to set the right mood.
As much as I enjoyed this film, I know it’s not for everyone. It’s very lightweight and a little too long, considering how fluffy the material is. Also, the characters don’t feel realistic to me, nor do they seem to live in the real world. Furthermore, I didn’t find the movie particularly cinematic, and in fact it felt rather like a Broadway play that had been opened out. But for me, the magic of Nicholson and Keaton was enough to keep me well entertained.
The DVD comes with special features, including two feature-length commentary tracks, and I have listed these on the next page.
