Script Weakens Cast, Director in ‘And So it Goes’

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Rating: 2.0/5.0

CHICAGO – “And So it Goes” can be summed up in its incredibly weak title, as just lazy hackery. In attempting to tell a story of redemption for a old white rich man, the film falls back on clichés, predictability, improbability, overdone physical comedy and stereotypes. The first-time pairing of Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton, and the direction of old pro Rob Reiner, can’t overcome the stench of the hackneyed screenplay.

Rob Reiner’s ability to recognize good scripts seems to have faded. The man knows how to make American classics (“When Harry Met Sally…,” “A Few Good Men,” “The Princess Bride,” etc.), but can’t seem to find or identify the type of work lately that can keep his reputation sound. The Mark Andrus screenplay is just not interesting, and couldn’t have been so on paper. None of the characters have any depth, they are just given shorthand emotions or occupations that try to define them, but none of them are authentic. Every action is expressed as going through the motions, and nothing presented captures anything new.

Oren Little (Michael Douglas) is a bitter and wealthy old man whose wife has died, and who is estranged from his only son. He’s finally trying to get rid of his fancy mansion – he’s one of the top real estate moguls in town, of course – and moves into another property he owns, a miniature apartment complex called Shangra-La.

Oren (Michael Douglas) and Leah (Diane Keaton) Are Coupling in ‘And So it Goes’
Photo credit: Clarius Entertainment

In that complex lives the lovely widow Leah (Diane Keaton), a lounge singer that cries through every sad song. Complications arise when Oren’s son Luke (Scott Shepard) reappears, and tells his old man that he’s going to jail – on one of the lamest trumped up charges ever – and now the old man must take care of Sarah (Sterling Jehrins), the granddaughter he never knew. Between that, and falling in love with Leah, he’d better clear his schedule.

Douglas is doing his character in one note, angry and cranky, which hundreds of other actors do better. There is no nuance in his portrayal, and in combination with the weak script, the character actually can induce a headache. Diane Keaton falls back into her late career character traits, that of a mushy, twittery, dishwater optimist, who falls into the caregiver role for the granddaughter as if she was hired by Oren.

There is actual potential in the basic story, which is frittered away in “upper middle class porn” – big houses and casually well off people – and clichés-a-go-go. Is there a chain smoking, inappropriate-talking associate at Oren’s realty office? Get me Frances Sternhagen to grind that character into the ashtray. Are the portrayals of Luke’s old druggie friends and Sarah’s lower middle class mother completely bothersome? Why show subtlety when you have a redemptive hero to make out of a rich white man. And so it goes.

There is an isolation in the script, the performances and the direction. The screenwriter Mark Andrus was isolated from what he knows of this type of situation, and wrote it down with all the seen-it-all-before elements intact. Couldn’t Michael Douglas had played his curmudgeon with with fewer regrets? He is rich after all, and manages to bamboozle, excuse me, sell, his mansion at a top-of-the-market price. I blame Obama. And finally, can’t Diane Keaton portray another type of older woman? She’s the same in “The Big Wedding,” “Darling Companion,” “Mad Money” and “Because I Said So,” just to name a few of her late career efforts. There has to be something else in there besides an elderly Annie Hall.

Rob Reiner Tickles the Ivories as Artie in ‘And So it Goes’
Photo credit: Clarius Entertainment

The film looks pretty good, and Rob Reiner does a quick acting bit as a toupee-wearing accompanist to Diane Keaton’s singing (for which she gets paid 1800 a week, making her the highest paid singer outside of a big city). The films tries so hard to be earnest, but it’s impossible to get past the inauthenticity of the Michael Douglas character, and how everything wraps up. If there is a poor moppet dumped at a doorstep in a movie, that moppet will end up pretty well set up. If there is a pregnancy in the ninth month, guess who’s delivering the baby? Yep, the production went there.

All you scribes and hungry screenwriters, get to work on a decent screenplay for Rob Reiner. His directorial career cannot end on this one note bore. Where are the princess brides? The sure things? The “Lick My Love Pump” elegy for a great American director?

By PATRICK McDONALD Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com [email protected]