A divorcee (Julia Louis Dreyfus), whose only child (Tracey Fairaway) is about to go off to college, is a self employed masseuse. She begins dating again when she meets a good hearted but heavyset man (James Gandolfini in his final film role). He seems like a keeper but she begins to have doubts when one of her clients (Catherine Keener) spouts off about her ex-husband and her own unhappy marriage. Nicole Holofcener is rapidly becoming the Woody Allen of the West Coast. Like Allen's dissection of upper class Manhattanites and their romantic travails, Holofcener's keen eye does similar duties for upwardly mobile professionals of Southern California. As she showed with
FRIENDS WITH MONEY, Holofcener has the gift of making possibly pretentious people relatable and winning rather than off putting. The exception, and it's intentional, is Keener's embittered poetess. Louis-Dreyfus is, well ..... Julia Louis-Dreyfus but Gandolfini has never been more likable and charming. A big cuddly and sweet natured and even sexy grizzly bear. Still, his or rather his character's obesity is a major point of contention in the film and one can't help but think of how it contributed to his early demise in real life. Excellent support from Toni Collette, Ben Falcone and the adorable Tavi Gevinson.
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