Julianne Moore is Gloria. A fifty-something divorcee drifting along at middle age without much purpose. She has a good job, 2 grown children and friends yet much is missing in her life as she spends her evenings dancing at night clubs. She meets Arnold (John Tuturro), a sad sack immersed in much of the same situation. The 2 hit it off and start a relationship that never seems to get going and be very interesting. Probably because he isn’t very interesting. Their relationship in the story, I never really bought. Tuturro is probably a miscast, but he played the role the way it was written. Moore, on the other hand is terrific. She’s always good and she’s really the only reason to invest 100 minutes of your time. The film is very slow and somewhat repetitive. There are numerous scenes where Gloria can’t figure out what she wants and ends back in bed with Arnold, sings in her car, sits and smokes and periods where she doesn’t do much of anything. The film is at its best when she is actually living her daily life and dealing with the kids and helping her friends. Showing things that a women in her situation goes through, opposed to a forced relationship. I wanted to like this film. It’s a grown-up film for sure dealing with grown up topics. It’s just too slow and felt disjointed.
Rating: (**)
Eric at the Movies 