Enough Said

This was a good film.
Eva (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is a lonely divorcee, trying to cope with her daughter preparing to leave for college. She is a masseuse though I think her job largely annoys her, with one guy not helping or offering to help carry her large table up his narrow staircase while a lady warbles on about petty first-world problems. Then, at a party which she attends with her friends, Will (Ben Falcone) and Sara (Toni Collette, speaking in her actual voice for once), she meets Marianne (Catherine Keener), who is actually a poet and earns a pretty good living, considering her house is gorgeous. This is a potential new client for her, which is good. Also, Will introduces her to Albert (the late James Gandolfini), who doesn't find her attractive. She feels the same way about him.  Yet, he asks her for number and they go out on a date and get along rather well. She's divorced (for ten years) and he's divorced (for only four years). They both only have one daughter who will soon be leaving for college. And they don't want their respective daughters to leave and go across country for college. Eva's daughter, Ellen (Tracey Fairaway) is going to Sarah Lawrence while Albert's daughter, Tess (Eve Hewson) will be going to Parsons. Albert is a kind, sweet man, and though Eve didn't find him sexy at first, she grows attached to him. They have an adult relationship, trying not to concerned with their failed marriages, though they also fail to talk about the future, each just trying to enjoy the moment.
All this while, Eve is also listening to Marianne complain constantly about her ex, how he wouldn't eat onions and would constantly cheat on his diets. Then, the viewer learns as Tess appears, that Albert is Marianne's ex husband. Of course, Eve knew this earlier, when Marianne mentioned that Albert would mix his guacamole around to avoid the onions. A small quirk to some but a major drift in that relationship. But Eve doesn't tell Albert that she also knows Marianne. She even tells her friends that she's test driving him. This is also a problem because she noticed nothing wrong with him until she listened to everything Marianne had to say.
At a dinner date with Will and Sara, Eve is downright mean to Albert, saying she should get him a calorie book and making fun of him not being able to whisper. But it is Albert picking up Tess and finally seeing Eve with Marianne that ends the relationship. Their respective hearts are broken. Albert put it properly. She was poisoning their relationship all this time.
Eve's daughter goes off to college, but she finally gets caught staring outside Albert's house. She apologizes and the two talk again, almost like old times. The movie ends hopefully, thank goodness.
The problem with the film lays in the annoying subplot. While one, involving Sara's inability to fire her maid (Anjelah Johnson-Reyes) who puts stuff away in random drawers, such as putting a hairbrush where the silverware is, works, the other does not. Eve is rather close to Ellen's one friend, Chloe (Tavi Gevinson), giving her advice about having sex (or not) with her boyfriend, something another mother should never do. In fact, Chloe meets Albert before Ellen even does. Before Ellen even leaves for college, Eve even offers Chloe her room. Finally, it's almost a relief that Chloe's mom tells Eve off, saying that this is her daughter, Eve has her own. True, she didn't have to call Eve a dyke, but something needed to happen. Still, the damage is mostly minor, as Ellen isn't furious at her mother that much. Eve finally finishes knitting the ugly yellow blanket that she's been working on her months so her daughter has something for college.
Also, I should note that Eve's ex husband appears in two brief scenes. Peter (Toby Huss) is largely nice though he knows that ordering more bread means his ex-wife will eat it because she doesn't have much self-control.
Though I hated the one subplot, the main plot is great. People are mean to each other, just like real life but they can also be sweet and sensitive. The acting is also top notch, with Louis-Dreyfus at the top of her game, her face ever expressive and Gandolfini as an actor who will be missed. (Full disclosure: I've never seen him in anything before, but he was fantastic in this role.) Keener and Collette are also great, though their characters are far from nice.  The film also has some funny lines, and the dialogue is witty and realistic with the great screenwriter and director Nicole Holofcener to thank for that. This film shows people as they actually are. Once Eve finally asks her client for help, he is more than happy to carry her heavy table up the stairs, all she had to do was ask. All Eve had to do was be honest with Albert so she could be happy. Happiness should not be underrated. Grade: A-