Review: Juliet, Naked

Based on the novel by Nick Hornby, Juliet, Naked is a sweet and gentle romantic comedy that somehow falls flat despite the winning lead trio of Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke, and Chris O'Dowd.

The ever-wonderful Byrne plays Annie, living a monotonous life in the sleepy coastal town in Britain in which she was born with a free-spirited sister and a longtime boyfriend, Duncan (O'Dowd), who's in love with another man. Well, not quite. Duncan, a teacher of film and television studies, is obsessed with Hawke's Tucker Crowe, a rock rebel who disappeared from the spotlight a quarter of a century ago and hasn't been heard from since. Duncan has turned Annie's home into a veritable shrine to Tucker, and Duncan has been stoking the flames of Tucker's legacy via a fan website which he fastidiously maintains. Annie doesn't quite share Duncan's passion, a fact for which he ceaselessly scolds and belittles her. It's also obvious that he has no intentions of changing his mind about starting a family whereas Annie is longing to. Duncan doesn't deserve a gem like Annie, but she seems unable to find the impetus to change her situation.

Surprisingly, it's Tucker who provides the impetus. Accidentally opening a package containing an original demo recording of Tucker's album, Juliet, which was sent to Duncan, she posts a scathing review on the fan site and finds herself taken aback when Tucker himself emails her to agree with her opinion. Thus blossoms a You've Got Mail-type correspondence in which the two share details about their lives. Turns out that he's been living in his ex-wife's garage and, confronted with his irresponsibilities as a father to the various children he has with several different women, doing his best to be a proper father to his youngest child, Jackson (Azhy Robertson).

The scruffy, grey-haired, and mildly pot-bellied Tucker definitely does not fit the image of the charismatic rock god that his fans remember; in fact, Duncan doesn't even recognise him when Annie introduces Tucker to his greatest fan. By the time of their meeting, Annie has broken up with Duncan, whose infidelity with a student proves to be the final straw, and entered into a tentative relationship with Tucker. Naturally, complications ensue.

The three leads couldn't be more perfectly cast, and the film deserves some credit for focusing on people who know they've made messes of their lives and are doing their best to remedy their circumstances. To that end, it's also refreshing that Tucker's comeback, if you will, has nothing to do with his professional life and everything to do with rising to the responsibilities of fatherhood. The problem with the film is that it doesn't recognise that the real story lies in the connection between Annie and Tucker and that Duncan works more as a secondary character than the third part of a love triangle. Once the film finally focuses on Annie and Tucker, it takes on a clarity and a wistful romanticism that is truly affecting. It's too bad it takes too long to get to where it needs to go.

Juliet, Naked

Directed by: Jesse Peretz

Written by: Evgenia Peretz, Jim Taylor, Tamara Jenkins; based on the novel by Nick Hornby

Starring: Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke, Chris O'Dowd, Megan Dodds, Jimmy O. Yang, Lily Newmark, Azhy Robertson