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But for good cameos, there’s not much by way of acting,
says Ervell E. Menezes, MAY be Stephen Vizinczey’s novel In Praise of Older Women has done the rounds in Hollywood and even further. Now it seems that the boot is on the other foot and it is older women, in their forties, who have begun to look for greener pastures in younger men, almost adolescents. Shades of the Mrs Robinson phenomenon.
Sandy (Zetas-Jones) has just come across the video footage of her husband cheating on her and is hopping mad and has decided to dump him. So she is left with her two cute kids Frank (Jake Cherry) and Sadie (Kelly Gould). It is at this psychological moment that 25-year-old Aram (Justin Bartha) comes along. Could he play nanny to the kids? Expectedly there’s romance in the air and before you can say Jack Robinson, Sandy is on Cloud 9. But what about poor Aram. Can he hold his own against a domineering single mother? It is the usual Hollywood formula and director Burt Freundlich sprinkles the fare with the usual Hollywood mismash that is gross American below-the-belt humour till he runs out of ideas. What next? Freundlich tries to be different just for the sake of being different. Can Sandy and Aram go their separate ways? No prizes for guessing correctly. But what follows is far from convincing. Or is an excuse for a sequel? Either way what could have been an interesting romance falls flat on its face and you wonder why. Catherine Zeta-Jones is
her usual suave self and young Justin Bratha is enthusiastic enough.
There’s not much by way of acting but good cameos by Jordan Carlos
and singer Art Garfunkel help in this fairly unromantic comedy which
flatters only to deceive.
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So
all you have to do is look for a middle-aged woman and get her to make
play for a youth, almost a cradle snatcher. And when you have
Catherine Zeta-Jones available after a string of very versatile roles,
who could be better. Hence, match her with baby-sitter or
"nanny" Aram (Justin Bartha) and you have the main
attraction.