MANAGEMENT
US, 2008, 104 minutes, Colour.
Jennifer Aniston, Steve Zahn, Margo Martindale, Fred Ward, James Hiroyuki Liao, Woody Harrelson, Mark Boone Jr.
Directed by Stephen Belber.
Advertised as a Jennifer Aniston film, it seems a bit of a failure. She is always much the same and is here – pouty, unpredictable, mellowing a little.
But, if it had been promoted as a Steve Zahn film, then it is much better.
The focus is on his character, Mike, son of the owners of a Kingman, Arizona, motel (Margo Martindale and Fred Ward), who acts as handyman and nightshift manager but, so far, is more of a loser and suffers from arrested emotional development. When he tries to be nice to Sue (Aniston) a surface-uptight travelling saleswoman, with the reward of touching her, his life is changed and he follows her to Baltimore, then to Aberdeen, Washington, where she is about to marry her ex-boyfriend, ex-Punk musician (Woody Harrelson doing his mad thing).
So, the ingredients for a romantic comedy become something of a 21st century screwball comedy – including Mike hang-gliding and parachuting into Harrelson's swimming pool. Mike's Chinese American buddy suggests a Buddhist monastery – which, at least, has a good influence on Mike, helping him to grow up a little, so that...
Steve Zahn is credible in this kind of role, making a potentially alienating character more endearing than one might have thought.
There is a happy ending all round.
1.A romantic comedy? A 21st century screwball comedy?
2.The atmosphere of Kingman, Arizona, the town, quiet, the motel, the Chinese restaurant? The contrast with Baltimore, the corporate offices? Ordinary homes? The comparison with Aberdeen, Washington, the countryside, the small town, the mansion, the Chinese restaurant? An authentic setting for this romantic comedy? Musical score?
3.The title, the reference to Mike and his work in his parents’ motel?
4.The motel, Kingman? Trish and her welcoming guests, her delight in running the motel? Jerry, his support of his wife, doing odd jobs, a quiet man? Mike, his relationship with his parents, the nightshift, his arrested development?
5.Sue and her coming to the motel, her manner, clothes, Mike’s reaction? Her job, selling pictures to motels? Her meetings? Mike and his bringing the wine, her manner, unwelcoming? The next night, Mike and the champagne? Her brusqueness in talking with him, her allowing him to touch her? Her leaving the motel? The return, sitting in the car, the decision about Mike, the sexual encounter, the effect on her, on him? Her leaving?
6.Mike, his life, bored, the work, the detail, the Chinese restaurant? Lacking relationships? His seeming to be a loser? The encounter with Sue? His mother’s illness and her death? His laconic father? The funeral? Getting the necklace, going to the pawnshop?
7.The decision to find Sue, buying the ticket, going to Baltimore, the expensive taxi ride from the airport? His going to the office, encountering Sue, her embarrassment? Her decision to let him come with the soccer game, his playing? His accompanying her? At home, on the floor? Her keeping her distance? Yet questioning, flattered, puzzled?
8.Her going to Washington State, her relationship with Jango, the ex-punk? Comfort? Wealth?
9.Mike going back home, his going to Baltimore for the second time, finding out about Sue, his going to Washington? The town of Aberdeen, sleeping in the park, getting wet on the oval? The pictures on the posts? Going for a meal, encountering Al? Al and his joke about speaking Chinese? Offering Mike the job? With his parents? Mike able to stay in the basement? Their both spying on the mansion, seeing Jango, seeing Sue?
10.Jango, his reputation, Woody Harrelson’s comic style? Appearance? Yoghurt magnate? At home, the meal, Al and Mike visiting? Jango’s suspicions? His confronting Mike, knocking him out?
11.Mike, desperation, Al and his advice? Taking parachute lessons, parachuting into the pool? Jango firing the BB gun at him? Sue visiting him in hospital?
12.Sue, explaining she was going to marry Jango, her reasons, security, her pregnancy? The ceremony and Al and Mike watching?
13.Mike going home, Al’s advice about Buddhist monks, spending four months in the monastery, playing volleyball, the wise advice of the chief monk? Mike letting go? Growing up and maturing? Accepting reality?
14.His relationship with his father, talking things over, the father thinking of selling the motel, giving his son the deeds, buying back his mother’s necklace? His decision for the future? His father going to the gym and training for basketball?
15.Sue, her arrival, the explanation of what had happened, breaking with Jango, her pregnancy? Mike, a better man, Sue a better woman? The proposal, the centre, meals, Al joining them, the father being able to work there for sport?
16.The blend of comedy, romance, people maturing – how persuasive?
