Movie Review: Juliet, Naked

Juliet, Naked ** ½ / *****

Directed by: Jesse Peretz.

Written by: Evgenia Peretz and Jim Taylor & Tamara Jenkins based on the novel by Nick Hornby.

Starring: Rose Byrne (Annie Platt), Chris O'Dowd (Duncan Thomson), Ethan Hawke (Tucker Crowe), Alex Clatworthy (Katie), Lily Newmark (Carly), Denise Gough (Gina), Phil Davis (Mayor Terry Barton), Azhy Robertson (Jackson), Ayoola Smart (Lizzie).

 

The author Nick Horby knows a lot about fandom – and the way that it can become perverted into something ugly when your perspective in what it is you love about the things you love, and you take it all too seriously. Watching the great High Fidelity (2000) based on a Hornby novel, was an eye-opening experience for me as an 18-year-old, who didn’t want to become so lost in the things that I love that I ended up, well, like the character Duncan (Chris O’Dowd) in Juliet, Naked. In this film, Duncan is an academic – he teaches about movies and TV and pop culture at a University, and in his free time, runs a website dedicated to Tucker Crowe – an indie rock icon who disappeared from public life following the release of his celebrated album, Juliet – which was full of songs about his breakup with a model he was in love with. Duncan has been romantically involved with Annie (Rose Byrne) – the real protagonist of the movie – for 15 years, and they have become stuck in a rut. Duncan can be insufferable when his thoughts and opinions are challenged – and he doesn’t like it that Annie doesn’t like Tucker as much as he does. All this comes to a head when Tucker is sent a previously unreleased demo of the songs on Juliet – but just sung by Tucker with a guitar, solo. While Duncan goes online to proclaim its brilliance, Annie replies in the comments that’s it’s little more than maudlin whining. Duncan is, of course, hugely offended – but Annie does draw an admirer – Tucker Crowe (Ethan Hawke) – himself. The two start emailing, and a deeper connection grows between them. Eventually, the pair will meet.

 

That is the long, and fairly tortured setup, to Juliet, Naked which is a film who appeal is basically the three leads actors, and their charm – which only takes the film so far. As mentioned above, the real main character in the film is Annie – who is tired of her lousy job, her lousy boyfriend, and her lousy small, English town. She has started to think she wants children – despite the fact that she and Duncan always agreed they didn’t want them. But when he leaves her for a younger woman, who is more enamored by the things Duncan likes than Annie is (which, is all he’s really looking for) and she draws closer to Tucker, the movie doesn’t quite do what’s expected there either. Tucker is Duncan’s opposite in many ways – he isn’t obsessive about anything, is the father of 5 children, by four different women – but really only has a relationship with one of them – the youngest, Jackson (Azhy Robertson). He lives behind his ex-wife’s house in a barn so he can be close to Jackson – the other kids off in various places, sometimes with little or no contact with him. There is a connection there to be sure – but tellingly, in her voiceovers, Annie doesn’t start to begin of starting a family with Tucker – but more about single motherhood.

 

Byrne’s performance here is a reminder of who frequently good she can be, and how she needs to be better utilized in most movies – she is funny and charming here, and keeps the movie afloat. This is the type of role you expect from Hawke – very little needs to be done with his photos from the 1990s to make him look like a greasy, indie rocker from the time – nor little done to him now to make him look like a burnout. He coasts a little on that charm – but that’s right for the character. The normally likable O’Dowd plays his role here well – but it’s definitely a role where you aren’t supposed to like him, and for many, you will recognize this guy as the insufferable one who lectures people who don’t care on the brilliance of books, movies, TV shows or music they’ll never consume (I hope I’m not that guy – in fact, so much so that strangely, I rarely talk about movies with people, despite who many I see, and how much I write about them).

 

There is a scene – a conflict between Duncan and Tucker – that I wish was drawn out a little bit more. Once Duncan realizes who is staying his his ex-girlfriend, he comes around to talk to him, and the pair get into a fight – Duncan talking about the brilliance of Juliet, and Tucker completely dismissing it. It comes to a head when Duncan gets angry – and makes the point that the art no longer belongs to Tucker, it belongs to those who love it. He has a point – but later, when Tucker explains what made him walk away from music in the first place, so does he. I wish these two moments could have brought into conversation with each other, rather than just be a pair of monologues.

 

Overall, Juliet, Naked never quite reaches the level it probably should. It has three engaging performances, and a story that should be more interesting than it is. I wanted to like Juliet, Naked more – but it just kind of sits there. It’s charming enough, I guess, without every quite being good. In short, the movie is far less than the sum of its parts.