Michael Keaton and Mila Kunis carry ‘Goodrich’ with heart and humor
By James Verniere/Boston Movie News
They don’t make older audience-aimed, weepie crowd-pleasers like “Goodrich” anymore, and there’s a reason for that. Many older people don’t go to the movies anymore. Perhaps they will make an exception for this admittedly well-made and well-cast Michael Keaton-led effort from writer-director Hallie Meyers-Shyer, the daughter of filmmakers Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer, who co-wrote the 1980 Goldie Hawn classic “Private Benjamin.”
“Goodrich,” named after its protagonist, tells the story of 60-year-old Andy Goodrich, a twice-married Los Angeles boutique art gallery owner. He runs the struggling business with his partner Cy (Kevin Pollak). At home, Andy is awakened in the middle of the night by a phone call from his wife Naomi (Tony Award-winner Laura Benanti), who informs him that she has begun a 90-day stay at a “country club” Malibu rehab center and that she is leaving him. This is the first of several soap opera twists in the story. Andy and Naomi are the parents of precocious 9-year-old twins Billie (scene-stealer Vivian Lyra Blair, “Obi-Wan Kenobi”) and Mose (Jacob Kopera), and the story will make much of Andy’s difficulties taking care of the twins by himself. In fact, one might think of “Goodrich” as Keaton’s long-deferred sequel to his John Hughes-scripted 1983 hit “Mr. Mom.” Keaton is currently also on screens in the smash hit “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice,” although I don’t think that will sell tickets for “Goodrich.” Andy also has an adult daughter from his first marriage. Her name is Grace (Mila Kunis, who gives Keaton a comedic run for his money). Grace is married to a goofy but likable eye, ear, and throat specialist (Danny Deferarri), and she is heavily pregnant with their first child.
Among the many comic characters we encounter in “Goodrich” is an Israeli soldier/babysitter played by Roshni Shukla (“Fear of the Night”). Among the other hits that Andy takes (and they keep coming) is the loss of a hot, young artist who might have generated desperately needed sales. There is a much-repeated bit about replacing the gallery’s sign that goes nowhere. Billie acknowledges to Grace’s chagrin that when Grace mentions Andy, she refers to him as “your” father instead of “our” father.
In the arguably token role of a gay actor, the father of Billie and Mose’s classmate, Michael Urie, is fun to a point. But one might wonder if he is the film’s ambulatory gay joke, and you can decide for yourself what to make of the latent homosexual attraction between him and Andy. Naomi’s 90-day stretch in rehab is apparently enough time for Andy, who thinks watching “Casablanca” with 9-year-olds is a great idea, to become a much better father than he ever was for Grace, and for an unconvincingly resentful Grace to be rushed to the hospital. In between, Andy will bond with the lesbian-singer daughter (Carmen Ejogo) of a recently deceased woman artist, who promises to allow Andy to have a life-saving exhibit of her mother’s work. I had trouble with this plot-line, which includes an—Aren’t they adorably crazy in L.A.?—session of guru-led breathing exercises at the woman’s house in Topanga Canyon.
Keaton, 73, who has 94 acting credits according to IMDB, remains a comic powerhouse who happens to be a great dramatic actor as well. But he’s only as good as the material here. “Goodrich,” which was executive produced by Keaton, Kunis, and Amy Pascal (“Little Women”), has a Halloween sequence that concludes with Billie and Mose dressed up as Frida Kahlo and Andy Warhol. Grace’s baby threatens to arrive on Christmas Day. Contemplate the words “gender-neutral nursery.” Andie McDowell leaves us wanting more in the small but potent role of Andy’s first wife. I predict that Andy’s line, “If life isn’t kicking your ass, it isn’t doing its job,” is not going to become a catchphrase. Gird yourselves for inevitable leaky sniffling around you.
‘Goodrich’
Rating: R, profanity
Cast: Michael Keaton, Mila Kunis, Michael Urie
Director: Hallie Meyers-Shyer
Writer: Meyers-Shyer
Running time: 111 minutes
Grade: B
Boston Movie News 