TxMike
On DVD from our public library.Michael Douglas is wealthy real estate man Oren Little. He is living in one apartment of a 4-plex he owns while he is showing his home for sale. His wife had died not too many years ago and his nice Connecticut home he feels should go for $8.6 Million.He has a 30-something son who seems to be always "on the edge" and this day the son shows up with his 10-yr-old daughter, a granddaughter Orin had never met. The son promptly announces he is going to jail for a few months and Orin has to take care of the girl, there is no one else. He isn't particularly happy about it.One of the tenants in the 4-plex is Diane Keaton as widow Leah. She is quite the opposite of Orin, she is very caring and helps out right away. To the point where the child begins to call her "Grandma." She is also trying to start her late-life career as a lounge singer.There isn't a lot to this movie but it is pleasant and entertaining. The story arc is to have Orin become a more caring person and in the process fall in love with Leah.The cute granddaughter is Sterling Jerins as Sarah.
islandstace
If the comment about rape within the first few minutes of the film is not offensive enough, the unchecked and unchallenged racism and ethnic stereotyping finishes it off. I thought this was a terribly disappointing movie with downright offensive moments. While my expectations of Douglas are generally fairly low these days, I would have expected better from Keaton and Reiner.I cannot recommend this movie and hate I have to expend the energy to write 10 lines about a movie that wasted my time in the first place, just to have my review published. I hope other people agree the rape comment and racism was unnecessary and offensive.
febru3012
38 years ago Woody Allen's "Annie Hall" broke all sorts of records for being unique and entertaining. Diane Keaton played a pivotal role in that movie as the lead character Annie Hall. It seems Ms Keaton has frozen herself into that role and brings that same quirkiness to every role she's played since than, whether it requires it or not. In "And So It Goes" she doesn't require that weirdness and its a total distraction throughout this movie and why I'm rating the movie a 1. Keaton has traded her Hamburg for a Panama and graciously went sans the mens tie and vest this time around. Michael Douglas does hold up his part but Rob Reiner appears to be trying throughout this movie to direct and produce a knockoff of "Annie Hall". Reiner lets Ms Keaton do her frozen best. This movie is tedious and has the speed of a thick molasses in January. You'll fall asleep a number of times watching "And So It Goes", for most of us doing that provides some much needed relief. I was waiting for Keaton to blurt out "Lottee Da" at any moment while watching this stinker of a movie. Instead we get her caterwauling like a Bluetick hound dog chasing a raccoon. Horrible singing, just horrible.
Harry T. Yung
In 1997 John Nicholson perfected the role of the pain-in-the-neck aging man in "As good as it gets", character study, comedy and romance all rolled into one. Then in 2003, with obnoxiousness replaced by flamboyance, he beefed up the romance side in "Something's got to give" playing opposite inimitable Diane Keaton. And here we are, in "And so it goes", with our very own Keaton again radiating her absolutely undiminished charm, and Michael Douglas stepping into the formidable shoes that he fills admirably. Nicholson can now go comfortably into retirement. This is not to say that Douglas becomes another Nicholson. What he offers is an alternative version. His brand of obnoxiousness is matter-of-course rather than zealous, and he has warmth that Nicholson does not have.The story revolves around our protagonist. Although the romance plays a big part, there are other dimensions to recent widower Oren Little's life. Embittered by the experience of 2 years of watching helplessly his wife dying of cancer, Oren has, so he claims, all his compassion drained. The effect is clearly felt by an assortment of human beings (and more, there is a dog) around him: neighbors who are also (unfortunately for them) his tenants, colleagues in the real estate office where he excelled as a sales agent in the last 40 years, prospective buyers of his luxury home and, last but not least, his son, that sets off the plot.When Oren's estranged son, written off as a junkie beyond salvation, shows up with a 10-year old daughter who will become homeless as he goes to serve a jail term of 6 months, Oren is not exactly pleased. Widowed (for a bit longer than Oren) neighbor Leah, a part time lounge singer with a penchant for crying ("for Cry me a river, it doesn't have to be the whole river" Oren once offered his advice), gallantly rises to the occasion, taking in little Sarah until Oren "figures out something". I won't go into the developments which follows a somewhat predictable trajectory.One thing that does deserve a little (no pun intended) elaboration is the idea of "balancing". For the two windowed people (for 2 years and 4 years respectively) falling in love, it is quite a challenge to strike a balance between the sorrow from losing a beloved spouse and joy from the new-found consolation (which, in this movie, is not only spiritual but also physical – "we are animals that have physical needs" quipped Oren at one point). Credibility is already quite a challenge, let alone sympathy and empathy. Keaton and Douglas pulled this off in a way lesser talent could not have.Special credit should go also to 10-year-old Sterling Jerkins, the balance there being between a wild-eyed innocent child and a deprived soul raised in a single-parent, junkie-neighborhood environment. Some of the smaller roles, like her father (Oren's delinquent son), are not mere stereotypes. It turns out later that his jail term is in fact the result of a noble self-sacrificing act. The vast support cast, even those in one-dimensional roles, delivers.For a special bonus, don't be late. The opening credits come with background of endearing "Both sides now", which is a brilliant choice so aptly setting the mood of the entire movie.
