The Meddler: Movie Review
I first took notice of Lorene Scafaria in 2008 when she wrote the screenplay for the very enjoyable, “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist”. She followed that up in 2012 with “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World” in which she not only wrote, but directed as well. Her latest film, “The Meddler”, starts off pretty strong, but slowly wears out its’ welcome.
After the passing of her husband, Marnie Minervini (Susan Sarandon) decides to relocate from New Jersey to Los Angeles so she can be close to her daughter Lori (Rose Byrne). When Marnie isn’t meddling in her Lori’s life, she spends her vast amount of free time shopping, going to the movies alone and just enjoying the sights Los Angeles has to offer. She also seems to spend a great deal of time at the Apple store where she befriends one of their geniuses, Freddy (Jerrod Carmichael).
Lori is a successful television writer, but her personal life is in shambles. She can’t get over her movie star ex-boyfriend Jacob (Jason Ritter) and she can’t even manage to keep her plants alive. As if Lori wasn’t frustrated enough, she becomes increasingly agitated that her mother won’t stop calling or stopping by. Marnie even goes to Lori’s therapist just to talk about her daughter.
When Lori travels to New York for work, Marnie involves herself in the lives of others. She not only babysits for one of Lori’s close friends, but she also decides to pay for and help plan that same friend’s long-overdue wedding. That isn’t all. Marnie also takes it upon herself to help Freddy with transportation to night school and with the time remaining, she volunteers at the local hospital.
Lori isn’t the only one who is dealing with relationship issues. Marnie has caught the eye of two suitors. Mark(Michael McKean) is the father of Lori’s friend and Zipper (J.K Simmons) is a retired cop. Although Marnie is not able to deal with relationships, she does take a liking to Zipper.
Although, “The Meddler” features a great deal of talent both in front of and behind the camera, Sarandon’s character becomes just too much to take. Not only that, but things move along so slowly. I found myself utterly bored around the mid-way point. I also understand the need for product placement in film, but sometimes it can become distracting. “The Meddler” is one of those cases. From “Apple” to “Lexus” there is a ton of product placement and unlike a big summer blockbuster, there isn’t a bunch of action to distract us from a well placed soda vending machine. This isn’t a terrible movie, but the cast deserves much better.
By: Marc Ferman