These days, every time I see a relatable, character-driven comedy about actual human beings I think, “Wow they sure don’t make ’em like this anymore.” It is like a shock to the system that someone managed to get one made and released. It makes me sad since this was once a popular genre with with major studios regularly filled theaters. Now at best it is left to streamers, or an occasional example that somehow sneaks onto a studio release schedule, or, in the case of writer-director Hallie Meyers-Shyer’s exceptionally smart and endearing Goodrich, it is being delivered to theaters by an independent (in this case Ketchup Entertainment) and sporting an endless list of “executive producers” (I counted 24 with that title) who put up enough money to get a deserving film on the screen against all odds.
I also find it heartening that Meyers-Shyer, the daughter of two of the genre’s most successful practitioners, Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer (Father Of The Bride, The Parent Trap, etc.), is continuing to prove this special talent runs in the family while staking out her own unique voice in keeping this kind of movie alive for a new generation. She previously did it wonderfully in 2017’s Home Again with Reese Witherspoon, and now a too-long seven years later she builds on that debut with a movie that might recall what were once Best Picture Oscar winners like Kramer vs. Kramer and Terms of Endearment, or even something like Irreconcilable Differences (a movie written by her parents when they were still married and working together). It has been 40 years since the heyday of those movies, but Meyers-Shyer proves human comedy can still work and get a theatrical run in the right hands.
The filmmaker is fortunate to also have Michael Keaton at the center of her film, playing the title character Andy Goodrich in a role that in some ways is reminiscent of a much younger Keaton in 1983’s breakout hit Mr. Mom. Here he finds himself ill-equipped to be a suddenly single dad to his two 9-year-old twins, Billie (Vivien Lyra Blair) and Mose (Jacob Kopera), the product of a marriage to younger second wife Naomi (Laura Benanti) who is asking for a divorce as she informs a shocked Andy via a phone call that she has checked into a 90-day rehab clinic and he will have to take over the family duties.
Naomi’s addictions aside, Andy seems quite surprised and finds himself turning to Grace (Mila Kunis), his now thirtysomething daughter from first marriage to Ann (Andie MacDowell), to help out with her much younger siblings. Grace is also pregnant with her first child with husband Pete (Danny Deferrari). As he was with Grace growing up, Andy is still quite the absent dad, and in fact is more obsessed with keeping his struggling art gallery alive. With his career teetering, his second marriage in crisis and his family in need, Andy has to, uh, grow up himself and take responsibility.
Some of this results in very funny scenes such as trying to bond with his young kids by having a movie night and showing them his favorite, Casablanca, which puts Billie (who he mistakenly keeps calling Grace) asleep and Mose perplexed. There is also a hilarious bit shopping for Halloween costumes with another single parent, Terry (Michael Urie), who is gay and in another amusing scene mistakes Andy’s friendship for romantic interest in him. Somehow Meyers-Shyer pulls off this unlikely development without tipping the balance of the rest of the film, and both Keaton’s patented deadpan expressions and Urie’s frantic embarrassment play beautifully off each other.
Key to helping the director walk this tightrope between comedy and heartfelt dramatic situations is Keaton, who uses befuddlement, restraint and understatement in yet another brilliantly nuanced performance — as far from Beetlejuice as you can possibly get but once again showing why this star is national treasure. Watching Keaton here reminded me of Cary Grant in his heyday as a harried dad in studio comedies like Houseboat and Room For One More. He is well matched with Kunis, who nails the role (perhaps one with echoes of Meyers-Shyer’s own life experience) of a person whose frustrations of an absent dad come slowly bubbling to the surface just at the moment she is about to become a parent herself for the first time. Kunis is particularly effective in a scene where it all comes pouring out of her, literally and figuratively, when her water breaks as she is rushing to a doctor’s appointment with a very late Andy who had forgotten to pick her up. The childbirth scene with tense moments is also a highlight not just for Kunis but also for Deferrari who movingly calms her down in a beautifully written scene where he previews their about-to-be-born daughter’s future as Andy, helpless here, gets quietly emotional in the background. No dry eyes in the house for this one, folks. If you aren’t moved by this even Bekins couldn’t help you.
Among the rest of the cast, Carmen Ejogo has some nice brief moments as the daughter of a recently deceased artist who is dealing with Andy, who desperately wants the rights to her mother’s prolific works. This leads to one of the film’s funniest scenes as he attends a lesbian musical showcase to prove he is the right guy to get her business. MacDowell as first wife Ann is given just one scene to make an impression, as is Benanti as wife No. 2, but both these talented actors come off as more functionary against Keaton than truly three dimensional. The real dynamic is between Keaton and Kunis.
Although I wouldn’t call this a Christmas movie, Goodrich benefits by being set in Los Angeles right in the middle of the holiday season, a contrast to most snow-laden movies set during this time of year and well used by cinematographer Jamie Ramsay to show the difference. Christopher Willis’ music score nicely accentuates the action without making itself noticed, much the way Hans Zimmer’s lilting scores for Nancy Meyers comedies like Something’s Gotta Give served the same purpose.
In this month where all we seem to be getting is one horror movie after another, and the world is a depressing mess, Goodrich stands out, a relic possibly of another era but a reminder that there still are movies out there that just possibly might make you feel good about life, even with all its heartache and complexity. Hopefully it doesn’t take another seven years for Hallie Meyers-Shyer’s next film to get made.
Producers are Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Kevin Mann and Dave Caplan.
Title: Goodrich
Distributor: Ketchup Entertainment
Release date: October 18, 2024
Director-screenwriter: Hallie Meyers-Shyer
Cast: Michael Keaton, Mila Kunis, Carmen Ejogo, Michael Urie, Kevin Pollak, Vivien Lyra Blair, Nico Hiraga, Danny Deferrari, Jacob Kopera, Laura Benanti, Andie MacDowell
Rating: R
Running time: 1 hr 51 mins