Like Father JBTF10...
Estimated Read-Time = 34.6 minutes
JBTF10? Worth Watching.
Review synopsis: “We’re better than this.”
John McCain stood for and believed a lot of things I don’t. Again, he wasn’t perfect. But he was trying to do something. And I respect that. Is the sentiment of this phrase what Rachel and her father will use to rally toward happier, more complete lives? Will Grammer have it in him to play a part in such a journey?
As children, we need to believe our parents are knowledgeable and strong. Parents are supposed to be the constants that have our backs as we strain to push through the topsoil of our lives in hopes of finding the sun. But, inevitably, we learn our parents are just people like we are. Flawed. Selfish. Anxious. Hopeful. And it’s hard to not be angry at them for this. Because they let us believe the lie as long as it can benefit us, like letting a kid believe in Santa Claus. It’s a gambit. One we never live to see fully play out.
My hope after its First 10 is that Like Father believes in something like McCain did and is willing to follow it — even if the journey grows long, or sad, or painful. Because that’s one thing movies can do when we’re putting them to work. We can follow them through uncomfortable places and emerge with them again, with some wisdom culled from closure.
Like politicians, we need more movies that have the courage to act with more intention than placating our basest desires, movies that aren’t content to simply exist in the world because they’ve been allowed to. Many such films would be less than perfect. Some far from it. But if we’re unwilling to hold each other to a higher standard, the least we’re able to do becomes the best we’re able to be.
Stars: Kristen Bell, Kelsey Grammer, and Brett Gelman (as Lerue)
Directed by: Lauren Miller Rogen
Written by: Lauren Miller Rogen (screenplay)
Check streaming availability via: JustWatch
JBTF10 Review: Falcon Rising
Found by Netflixing: n/a
“We are better than this.” - President George W. Bush quoting an oft-used phrase of John McCain’s during the late senator’s memorial service.
Selecting a movie to review based on the passing of Senator John McCain? Yeah. If you want to take a pass on this one, I don’t blame you. And yeah, I might be shin-kicking the physics of this (perhaps convoluted) means of reviewing films before I’ve really sorted them out.
But the phrase quoted above struck me when I heard it spoken during Senator McCain’s memorial service. I instantly remember when, in 2008, a woman who’d been invited to ask a question during a McCain town hall accused Barack Obama of being an Arab. I was watching live. And I watched McCain’s reaction to her statement happen in real-time. His reaction is a visceral one. And I’ll never forget it.
“We are better than this.” There’s a lot packed into that statement of just five words. And if John McCain didn’t believe it down to the very nucleotides of his DNA, we would have never seen him react in the way we all witnessed. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with being Arabic. But for those who are not aware, from the way this woman used the word “Arab,” it was clear she was insinuating something else (had to look up the difference between implication and insinuation here, and I’m not ashamed to admit it). We knew this. McCain did, too. He gently took the microphone back, then turned and spent the next few minutes explaining to the crowd (many of who, by the sound of it, agreed with the woman’s insinuation) why they were wrong.
“We are better than this.”
I don’t recall McCain saying this as the moment unfolded. But you could feel the spirit of it right through the television screen.
It’s the “we” that I feel is most important, because it makes this statement inclusive ... familial. The inclusive “we are better than this” was always, to me, an undercurrent of Roger Ebert’s approach to film critique. In turn, a belief that things, we, can be better is what draws me to filmmaking, since movies, more than any other medium, manage to bottle that sentiment (or a simulation of such) in motion. Hell, I’ve said this exact phrase as a father, when my kids have made a poor choice at school, when I know they could have made a better one.
It’s a way to criticize, yes. But it’s a means of doing so that leaves those involved closer, not farther apart, which is something we’d all benefit from.
So, let’s take the above sentiment on a little ride here and see what we find along the way.
Part of what I am beginning to love about this approach to finding films to review is how randomly we end up with our consideration set.
And, while searching for “John McCain” in this case has resulted in some logical results, the “wtf” appearance of a film starring Kelsey Grammer and Kristen Bell isn’t something I can pass up. As a good deal of the late senator’s memorial service also centered on his qualities as a father, this selection feels apropos to a review where we’re keeping the “we can do better” idea in mind. Shall we?
Like Father (like Bell?) opens with a very pretty aerial shot of New York City. Every time I think about New York, I think about pickles, because once I took a writer’s holiday there and stayed with friends. And I visited as many delis as I could. And at the delis there were bowls of pickles on the tables. And, right or wrong, I ate those pickles. It was a really great trip. Thank you, New York.
We hear Kristen Bell’s character, Rachel, speaking as we hover over the city. Kristen Bell is, in my opinion, one of those actresses who possesses natural charisma. As does Kelsey Grammer, now that I think about it. Oh hey, wow! This might not be so bad, yeah? Plus, there’s not an endless police chase in sight!
We cut to Bell doing a pretty good job of pretending to talk someone on the phone. A client is returning her call on a Sunday. Probably a BIG client. Or a potential client? I don’t know. Something big is going down tomorrow related to the impending world domination of some sort of potato chip.
But we learn through Rachel’s side of the conversation that a Really Big Advertising Pitch for the business is going down tomorrow. And she won’t be there? “Why the @#$%ing hell not?” we assume the client asks, because Bell is caught off guard. “Hmm? Why ... won’t I be there …?” she stalls.
“Well, actually I’m getting married today.”
Uh. This whole conversation/situation strikes me as a bit odd. But we’re going to just keep moving here for three reasons:
The goal here, I believe, is to establish that Rachel is important and a PROFESSIONAL. She is, on the Sunday she is getting married, making sure this important party is feeling super great about the huge potato chip brand ... meeting that is happening tomorrow ... thatshewon’tbeattendingtomorrowbythewayBYEEEEE!
Based on that, we get a sense of Rachel’s priorities as a character. Okay. Fair.
There is a person behind her this whole time who’s making HUGE balloons with one of those rope ... things. Giant balloons and free pickles. New York, you are amazing.
I work in advertising. Why the hell can I not suss out the role of the person she’s talking to? It seems she’s on a team that’s going to either pitch for a potato chip account, or re-brand the chips. But she’s on the phone with the person she will be pitching to? Wait, no, because she won’t be there. So, wait! More bubbles! Haha, weee!
Suddenly Come See About Me by the Supremes kicks in (UH oh) and we cut to a close-up of a pothole filled with dirty water (New York!). A car drives through it and water splashes everywhere ... including on the camera lens! WHOA, I’m jealous of those of you who will be watching this in 3D.
We cut inside to see that someone who is probably Kelsey Grammer gets his coffee splooshed all over the place, including on a Rand McNally map of New York. Wow. I remember maps. Dad used to keep a bunch of maps in the door pockets of the family’s old Toyota station wagon. I would unfold them. But I could never fold them back up nicely. And Dad would get pissed. I miss those times.
Here’s the problem as we cut back to an aerial shot of this older car driving across The Bridge into the city. Between the music and the sense that this footage would be something the Second Unit would shoot, I think we’ve got us one of those “wasted opportunity” montages elegantly quantified by the sorely missed Every Frame a Painting, where scenes like this are contrasted against a scene of someone going from A to B in Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz.
These montages always feel like filler. Rachel’s getting married. (Got it.) “Someone” is driving to the same city she’s getting married in. (Rock.) Our mysterious inbound character might be a somewhat hapless individual based on the coffee spill moment. (I’ve seen worse.) But here it just keeps going. With the song. Going…
In film (yes friend, I do in fact flinch when I employ this particular introductory clause), everything you see/hear/experience is the result of some person making a choice. And, unlike other mediums, all the elements that make up a film form their own unique alchemy. Unless the song chosen here means something to the narrative I’m not aware of (which is possible), its use here feels haphazard. If any song could play over this sequence, what’s the point of the sequence?
For instance, I backed ’er up and watched the same scene with White Zombie’s Blood, Milk and Sky playing over the top of it. Not only does it work, it’s kind of badass. And yes, suddenly our inbound stranger seems to harbor a malicious agenda for the soon-to-be-married Rachel. Which is super wrong for this movie. But at least it’s a choice that can be wrong. Nothing ventured. Nothing gained. On the one hand, I don’t make movies. AND I’m from Iowa. So I need to watch it. On the other, I grew up in Iowa dreaming of making movies. So, if you get to, please do your best to make the shit out of them.
Oh hey, it’s also during this portion we learn the film has been directed by Lauren Miller Rogen. And farther on down the line, we learn Seth Rogen is part of the cast. It’s here I make a guess that Miss Rogen is Mrs. Rogen. (Later I learn I’m right! Which doesn’t mean anything, I guess. But good for her. I like to think Seth Rogen is fun to share a life with.)
Back to it; we continue to cut back and forth between wedding happenings with Rachel and the stranger progressing through New York. The stranger is driving an older-model Mercedes-Benz. I like how older fancy cars look. But, again, choices have been made here. I find myself wondering what this choice of car is supposed to convey about its driver. This includes a California license plate. So whoever this is has driven across the country — and must never have been to New York before, since they proceed to drive through it.
Cutting back to Rachel and her bridesmaids, the wedding photographer is busy shooting away. She comments on how beautiful Rachel’s pearl necklace is. We see the wide haymaker of a moment coming well ahead of its landing as Rachel replies, “Ah. Thank you. They were my mom’s.” As she touches the pearls, she looks down, lost in sad thought. Safe to assume here that the Seth Rogen cameo will not be as Rachel’s mother.
Meanwhile, the Car Stranger has found a PARKING SPACE(!) for his Mercedes 380SEC and emerges, holding a bouquet of flowers, in what seems to be a well-worn suit. Do you bring bouquets of flowers to weddings? (According to Yahoo Answers, no. No, you do not.) But, maybe whoever this is doesn’t understand that. More character?
Yes or no, as we now cut to long shots of the character walking through the park we presume Rachel is getting married in, the film stubbornly continues to try and keep the identity of this person secret. I wonder, is this character to be a surprise? Was all this hard work ruined by some intern in the marketing department charged with creating the “cover” art for the film?
That would be sad.
More photos are being taken of Rachel and her bridesmaids. They’ve been standing in the same spot for what seems like a long time. But maybe the photographer and her assistant have been moving around getting different “shots” and “angles.” In fact, we can see the assistant teleport from one side of the photographer to the other between shots. Hah. I kid. I mean, this is a continuity error. But I don’t want to be that guy. Anyway, we don’t care, because:
Kristen Bell as Rachel is charmingly authentic.
More giant bubbles in the background! HAH! AHA! WEEEEEEE!
Meanwhile, the Car Stranger continues his approach. While the “Who is it?” thing is wearing a little thin, the shots at least are interesting. Some are pretty, like a tilt down from sunny sky to a beautiful fountain as this man and his bouquet lumbers past. (Whoever this is, they walk with INTENTION.)
Other shots, while interesting, look like they’d be at home in a child-murdering alienclownspider show.
Finally, whoever this is arrives. It’s Kelsey Grammer, gang. And I tell you what, we are not surprised. But at least there is a very nice rotating camera reveal of his face as he arrives at the entrance to Rachel’s wedding. From the sign we see him stop to regard, we now know Rachel is marrying an Owen. And that the screenplay was also written by Lauren Miller Rogen. Right on. And directed by Lauren Miller Rogen. (The fuck?) Didn’t we already know this was directed by Lauren Miller Rogen? Wait. Nope. Scanning back quickly, I see that I was mistaken before. Her first credit indicated this is a FILM BY Lauren Miller Rogen. Lol. Okay, slow it down with the name drops there DONALD TRUMP. This is probably an odd-crediting courtesy of the writing/directing guild. But it seems odd ... if it’s a FILM BY someone you’d assume it was DIRECTED BY that same someone. Right? Can there be FILMS BY ME that other people do all the work of making fantastically? Can I please have that job? Btw, I hope the wine that is my life ages as richly as Kelsey Grammer has. Dude’s looking all right.
Inside of the wedding, THAT SONG begins to play. Four men pass in front of a string quartet as they play. Our Owen looks both nervous and relieved as Rachel’s bridesmaids begin to file in, doing that kind of stagger-step, one-foot-at-a-time walk impressed upon kindhearted folks who agree to help us mark these types of occasions in our lives. God, this stuff is always so weird to me.
I thought these types of events (weddings, funerals, memorial services) were actually called high ritual. Something I could have sworn I stumbled onto tumbling down a late-night Google rabbit hole once. Because I found a religious college where you could major in it. And I remember thinking, “Huh. Makes sense …” But this was a while ago.
And now Googling it is serving up links to Churches of Satan. So I’m going to stop now. And instead, for those interested, simply provide a link to an article from Scientific American about why rituals work and their benefits ... religious and otherwise.
Back to Owen, and his facial hair, which seems ... very specific. Everyone in the crowd nods approvingly as the bridesmaids make their way down the aisle. Kelsey Grammer, now seated with everyone else, looks especially happy as they pass.
Once the bridesmaids are at the front of the room, THAT OTHER SONG begins, and everyone turns in anticipation of Rachel’s grand entrance.
We cut to their collective POV, the open door she’s to enter through. But, nothing …
Back to the crowd. Kelsey Grammer seems to be the first to pick up on something being wrong. Owen casts a nervous glance toward the wedding officiant.
Back to the doorway. Nothing.
Cut to Rachel, outside ... on her phone. Uh oh.
“Hey Penny, this is Rachel. This is just a reminder to please make sure the team presents the Kara’s Cookies material tomorrow in the pitch meeting, and PLEASE remind them to say it’s Whole Foods’ top organic cookie-seller and we created the brand …”
Oh no. At first I’m lost here. Is Rachel calling someone to remind the team that’s pitching tomorrow to remember to bring the pitch ... to pitch ... in the pitch? Oh wait. This is potato chips tomorrow. So I guess they want to show Kara’s Cookies to the potato chip as, like, a case study. But when Rachel name-drops Whole Foods, I get a little queasy feeling in my tummy. Are Kara’s Cookies, The Number One Selling Organic Cookie Seller, Available Only at Whole Foods, a real thing? Maybe. Maybe not. But something’s going on here that feels a bit off.
Thankfully, the photographer comes out to remind Rachel that she needs to get married now. Rachel tries to hand her phone off to the photog, but it’s too late. In a moment of improvisation, she stuffs it down inside of the bouquet of flowers I forgot to mention she’s holding. Taking a deep breath, Rachel heads toward the door.
Owen looks relieved at this. Everyone stands, as one does in these moments of non-satanic high ritual. And aww-shucks Owen and Rachel face one another in front of the bearded gent who will thee wed. (That might not make sense, but I’m LEAVING IT in …)
There’s a nice subtle moment here as THAT OTHER SONG comes to a close. The camera, in medium shot, holds on Kelsey Grammer as everyone begins to sit. But just for a moment we see him seeing Rachel. And he’s lost in this moment for just a beat. Until he’s snapped out of it by the movement around him and finds his seat as well. Sometimes good acting is what you choose NOT to do, yeah?
It’s then that the officiant begins the ceremony by introducing himself.
“Hi everyone. I’m Frank Lerue … I’m Rachel’s boss ...”
And oh my God, suddenly we are listening to a young Stephen Tobolowsky. It isn’t. Nor does it appear that the actor has any relation to Stephen Tobolowsky ... but the resemblance in voice is fairly freaky cool.
“... and according to the Internet and the State of New York, I’m here to join my star employee ... and Owen ... in Holy Matrimony.” According to the Internet?
Mr. Lerue continues, and as he begins to both compliment Owen and flip him some venue-friendly shit, we cut to Rachel’s father ... who seems a bit relieved to hear Rachel is about to marry a physical therapist. Again, it’s a nice, almost microscopic bit of acting from handsome Kelsey Grammer.
We get a few more laughs at Owen’s expense here. And, in the short amount of time the movie has to do it, we get a sense of some shared history between these characters. Just a bit. But better than just steamrolling through this thing. Kudos, movie.
“Now,” Lerue continues, “some people don’t think there’s such a thing as a branding emergency.” He turns to stare at Rachel. “But if there IS ... Rachel is our EMT.”
Hah. What?
The crowd reacts more positively to this unique sentiment and Lerue continues to explain just how amazing Rachel is, ending with, “And now … the good stuff …”
He asks Rachel and Owen to please join hands. Rachel turns to hand her bouquet to one of the bridesmaids but, in doing so, her phone tumbles to the ground.
The crowd gasps.
Kelsey Grammer is concerned.
Rachel and her bridesmaids recover their composure, Rachel turning back to face Owen with a light smile. “I’m sorry.”
But Owen? Owen’s reaction is anything but light.
Owen ... cannot …
He apologizes to Rachel, but says he can’t do this.
“What?” Rachel asks.
Owen begins quietly falling apart, apologizing to those gathered, and then apologizing to Rachel, even giving Rachel an odd “namaste” hand gesture while doing so.
The crowd is concerned. Rachel is floored.
“Uh, just a minute folks,” Lerue begins as Owen heads to the exit with Rachel in tow. “This is, uh. This is a new thing Rachel and Owen are trying out ... you know ... they’re innovating. Always.” Hah. What?
While Lerue may or may not to continue to fill time with more odd improv, Rachel has stopped Owen in a corner toward the front of the room and is apologizing profusely.
She knows she wasn’t supposed to bring her phone to the wedding. She promised. But Owen can’t be doing this, now. Can he?
Owen looks like he’s trying not to heave. He agrees the timing of this is not ideal, as he shoots a glance over his shoulder to the murmuring crowd (are they, too, trying to figure out what Lerue is talking about?). But he point-blanks her: Was she on a call just before she walked down the aisle?
“Yes,” Rachel comes clean. “Yes, but see how well you know me? I mean that’s why we’re supposed to be getting married today.” Wow. With this, she tries to drag him back to the aisle. But Owen is a no-go.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this again, but I can’t have this conversation again, not here.”
A sad acoustic guitar riff kicks in. Uh oh.
Owen continues to explain how much he wanted this to work. Rachel begins to realize this is really not going to happen. We cut to Kelsey Grammer who, with his flowers, begins to excuse his way out of the aisle he’s been seated in. And beefs it, knocking over the last chair as he stumbles by it.
EVERYONE TURNS TO LOOK AT HIM.
Kelsey Grammer, staring at Rachel, mimes his best, “Uh, hi. I’m here …”
“Dad?” Rachel can’t believe it.
Kelsey Grammer awkwardly acknowledges this fact as he beelines for the back door.
Owen can’t believe it either, “That’s your dad?” (Is Kelsey Grammer playing Kelsey Grammer in this film?)
Now it’s Rachel who needs to get out of here ... as intense xylophone kicks in. Interesting choice.
She runs through the park and out to the street. Suddenly we’re watching from the POV of someone in a car. Dad’s car? Yup, we cut to Kelsey Grammer with a panicky look on his face, watching Rachel trying to hail a cab.
Despite her attempts to wave it down, the first cab speeds by her and honks? What does that mean?
Rachel, in disbelief, responds, “I’M A FUCKING BRIDE, YOU FUCKING COCKSUCKER!”
O_o
She climbs into the next available cab and, before it speeds off, makes eye contact with her father, seated in his car right next to her.
The cab zooms off. Cut to another beautifully generic aerial shot of NYC. Then cut to an elevator door opening into an office. Rachel is back at work. The next day? Maybe?
As she walks through the office to her, uh, office, she does her best to wear a brave face. Because EVERYONE IS STARING AT HER.
The mix of voices here is great as we hear her peers saying things like “OH!” and “awkward …” and my favorite “(sharp inhale of breath) ... Hoo ...”
Rachel makes it to her office and begins to set up her things. Lerue is there, like, instantly. Jesus, Lerue ... chill out, buddy.
(Aww c’mon, Schmidt. He’s just a Great Boss. And he wants to make sure she remembers she has the next two weeks off for that cruise, right?)
She knows. Thanks. But she doesn’t need it. She’s sorry about yesterday. But deep down, she knows it’s the right thing. And she’s moving on. And she’s just focusing on the pitch at 11 ... and both Lerue and I are not buying it. But she assures him she’s fine.
“Did you talk to your dad?” Lerue asks. JEEZ, LERUE. Not cool. She didn’t, she says, because he ran away. We all saw it. Besides, she didn’t want to anyway. Just some dumb dad she obviously hasn’t seen for many years. It doesn’t matter. Whatever.
I’m paraphrasing a bit here, but the following is delivered as an overdub with Rachel facing away from us, so it’s a bit weird. Always wonder what they had to fix when they do that.
But hey, Rachel’s been trying to land this account for months. So, if we don’t mind, Rachel just wants five to prep.
Nope. Lerue does not mind. Lol. Of course he doesn’t. That’s SO Lerue ...
This exchange hangs in the air a moment.
Then suddenly we are inside of an organic potato chip commercial. There are generic shots of grassy grass-places. And adorable fonts. And chips cut from potatoes by knives and baked in real ovens. And music with gentle stomping and whistling. Pretty spot on. Is this parody? Is it satire? We may never know, because that’s 10.
Okay, Rachel is totally taking her father on that cruise, amiright?
I KNOW. Yes, the cover shows the two of them sitting together in some somewhat-tropic locale in what we have to assume is the near future of this film. But they could have flown there, right? Or driven …. there? It could be Florida we’re seeing in the background …
I say CRUISE. TOGETHER. Something happens in that potato pitch with our branding EMT (refusal of the call moment?) that causes her to seek out her father and make him go on the two-week cruise with her.
I honestly hope so. I do. (Please, Kelsey Grammer, don’t show up during the pitch, right as she’s bringing it all home, causing her to choke for the first time in her professional career. Please?)
Because, despite the slightly odd 10 we’ve traveled to get here, I do find myself wondering how this will go for Rachel and her father. Now the plane’s in the air. And what happens next, or doesn’t, is the real test for this Film By Lauren Miller Rogen.
Hey. That's 10.
