GOODRICH

US, 2024, 110 minutes, Colour.

Michael Keaton, Mila Kunis, Carmen Ejogo, Michael Urie, Kevin Pollak, Vivien Lyra Blair, Danny Deferrari, Laura Benanti, Andie McDowell.

Directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer.

The title is the surname of the central character with its interesting and evocative implications of both good and rich. In fact, the film could be seen something of an allegory about the rich, gaining the whole world, the danger of losing one’s good, one’s soul.

As we watch Goodrich, we are reminded that many politicians on retirement, sometimes surprisingly early, claim that they need time for being with their families. This film is a strong reassurance that this should be so.

In the opening minutes, Andy Goodrich, another fine performance by Michael Keaton, wakes to find his wife phoning him that she has gone into rehab because of prescription pills addiction. He is shocked. He does not believe it. He has never noticed. Which means that the film is the unmasking of Andy Goodrich, his discovering the self-centredness, self-focus of his life, his career, always busy, taking his family for granted.

And he has nine-year-old twin children coming to realise how much he has been absent from their lives, especially as they question him about their mother, about his own attitudes towards them, the little girl being precociously questioning and observant. He has to find more time to be with them at home. From his first marriage, he has a daughter in her mid-30s, married to a doctor, now pregnant, Grace (Mila Kunis).

Part of the unmasking is his growing realisation of the difficulties in relationship with his daughter, her devotion to him, his downplaying her doctor husband as a nerd, her complete exasperation while he calls on her help and time, finally revealed in a scene of an extraordinary outburst, emotional truth-telling towards her father, saying afterwards that she regretted, not what she said, but saying it out loud.

Then there is the Goodrich Gallery, a boutique gallery in Los Angeles, fostered by Andy for decades, but falling on hard times, money loans, art not selling, then, at one joyful moment, the possibility for all his problems to be solved by getting a contract on the estate of an artist who has died, almost there, but…

There is a great deal of feeling in this film, written and directed by Hallie Meyers Shyer, daughter of two prominent directors, Nancy Myers and Charles Shyer, who made films with some of these family themes.

A reviewer described the film as “endearing”. Andy Goodrich is not always endearing but our invitation to share his self-discovery and emotional honesty with him is endearing. The final image of him is as grandfather holding his newborn granddaughter. There is hope.

1. The title, the focus on good and rich? Ultimately which prevailed?
2. A piece of contemporary Americana, families, careers, addictions, pregnancies, education?
3. Los Angeles setting, the comfortable home and interiors, the art gallery, the rehabilitation centre, the meditation centre, hospital? The musical score?
4. The prologue, Andy waking up, the phone call, his wife, the message, his incomprehension, denial, not noticing real situations? Self-preoccupied? His work? Going to the centre, the smiling refusals of admission? Phone calls, letters returned? His wife ringing the children and his answering, her silence?
5. The portrait of Andy, his age, his first marriage, his wife leaving, a successful management of a Gallery, Grace as his daughter, her living with her mother, marrying Pete, Andy considering him a nerd, his being a nose and throat doctor, Grace and her pregnancy?
6. Andy, his second marriage, the twins, age 9, precocious, the daughter and her observations, her probing questions, the son and his bonding with his father? Andy having to rise to the situation, meals, accompaniment to school, being tardy and being told off, the criticisms of his children, early leaving, late at home, nights away, their reliance on their mother, devotion to her? His reticence about telling the truth, their finding out? Staying home and watching Casablanca?
7. The friendship with Terry, his son, the three children playing, Terry as an actor, highly strung, his partner leaving him, thinking that Andy was available, the kiss, the repercussions? Terry and his sons collapse, Andy taking him to the hospital? The Halloween shopping and the collection of the sweets?
8. The focus on Grace, her marriage, pregnancy, visits to the doctor, interactions with her father, his calling her Billy, helping him out, minding the children, fending off his comments about Pete, the plan for the hiking, meeting Lola Thomson, going to the breathing session? Andy forgetting to take her to the doctor, her outbursts and truth-telling about his whole life and attitude, later apologising, not for what she said but for saying it out loud?
9. Naomi, her sudden return, meaning as a friend with Andy? Love for the children?
10. The meeting with his first wife, her friendship, the walk, their daughter in common?
11. The Gallery, the financial meetings, the loans, the painting’s not selling, the young artist, Andy and his good relationship with his staff, the young director and the job in Portland, and the longtime friendship and depending on Cy? Andy and his optimism? The prospect of the Theresa Thompson estate, going to the feminist show, approaching Lola, attending the breathing session, the seeming contract, the posters, Lola and her signing with the international company?
12. The closing of the Gallery, the party, his farewell speech?
13. The possibility of a new life, with sequence, Peter arriving, Andy and his words to Grace, the happy birth, his holding the baby, the symbol of his future, good rather than rich?