Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson are at the top of their game in this film, brilliant as sparring couple Charlie and Nicole Barber. Nicole wants a divorce because she's sick of always doing what Charlie wants which means living in New York and always acting in his plays. He refuses to consider returning to her hometown of LA where she can easily find better jobs.
At first, they decide to be civil but then Nicole gets ballbuster lawyer, Nora (Laura Dern) who is fiery but nasty and turns the divorce into something far worse than it needed to be. Charlie didn't see Nicole while they were married and now, she's the difficult one. And their young son, Henry (Azhy Robinson) is the pawn. Charlie is forced to constantly fly back and forth across the country just because he wants 50/50 custody of their son. In the end, Charlie ends up taking a job in LA even though he had previously turned some down so they're divorced but Nicole ended up with everyone back in LA anyway. Now, while I was initially upset that this was another film about acting, that is only a backdrop and done differently and the dialogue is brilliant, sharp and snappy. And Driver and Johansson deserved far more than their nominations. However, I have a problem with Dern. While she's great and delivers another natural performance, I find her to be playing basically the same role she won an Emmy for in Big Little Lies so yeah, that's an issue. Still, the film is nothing short of miraculous and Baumbach should have won an Oscar for his screenplay. Grade: A-
Side Notes:
-Alan Alda, Julie Hagerty and Merrit Wever are great in small roles as is the unknown, downtrodden Martha Kelly as the social worker who observes Charlie and Henry spending time together.
-Charlie also shouldn't have slept with Mary Ann (Brooke Bloom), the stage manager and set designer of his plays.
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