Management (***½)

Directed by: Stephen Belber
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Steve Zahn, Woody Harrelson, Margo Martindale, Fred Ward
Seen: August 2nd 2009

***½ Out of ****

I was not sure what I had let myself in for when I walked into Management, but from the get go the film had much more to offer than the usual romantic comedy. The feel was almost that of an art-house film, and there was, in my honest opinion, none of the cheap feeling that has lately (maybe longer than just lately) overtaken American romantic films. I realised while watching Management why I’ve lately felt such an urge to see more Japanese films too, see, I have recently seen the trailers for two Japanese films, Departures and Still Walking, and had thought that they looked to contain something that to me makes a film great – true feeling and emotion. Management offers this in bucket-loads.

The trailer “misrepresented” the film, grossly so. It is not that much of a comedy, even though it is funny, but much more of a seriously told story that will definitely move anyone who sees it. Steve Zahn’s character, Mike, is also shown to be a bit creepier in the trailer that he actually turns out to be in the film. He is such a disarming character that no amount of stalking he does can be taken seriously for more than about a minute, and Sue (Aniston) falls for this personality of his time and time again.

Jennifer Aniston has stated in an interview that she did the film for its unique humour, but I sense that that was only part of it, as Sue is a normal person who takes time to learn things and may still not always react in the correct way in the moment.

Sue is a travelling corporate arts dealer, and she spends a night in a roadside motel in Arizona, owned by Jerry (Ward) and Trish (Martindale), Mike’s parents. Mike is immediately smitten with Sue and thinks up a new management policy to get to see her again – delivering a complimentary bottle of (foul-tasting) wine to her motel room, and upon telling Sue that he thinks she’s beautiful, she does a strange thing – she lets him touch her but (which forms part of the film’s marketing strategy, a touching comedy). Mike is thrown by this, and when she leaves he uses all his money to follow her to her company’s headquarters, where the confrontation is strange, but Sue is, again, disarmed by Mike’s sweet demeanour, and takes him in for the night – not into her bed though...

But things aren’t all rosy, as Sue also has an old ex-boyfriend, Jango (Harrelson), who asks her to marry him and live in Washington State, which is a difficult situation for Mike, as he is tied to his parents’ motel in Arizona. But nothing worthwhile ever comes free or without effort – so Mike has to find a way – and to find out what happens you’ll have to go see Management – I can definitely advise it. This is a great film that truly touches the viewer, more than the poster and marketing angle might make you believe, and when the DVD is released, I will be in the front of the queue to own this beautiful indie romantic drama with a bit of comedy thrown in to keep things up-beat.