(From imdb.com)
The characters played by James Gandolfini and Julia Louis-Dreyfus sure did look happy and comfortable together after those uncomfortable first date moments in “Enough Said.”
I wanted to see the romantic comedy when it came around a year ago, but it opened against something more pressing, and in the one-a-week film blogger world that I’m immersed in with my in-theater reviewing tasks for the Syracuse New Times site, I knew I’d more likely wait until I’d come across the little film on my flat screen. (There’s no law anywhere that I can’t see more than one theater movie a week, but, in the year-plus since I’ve happily taken on that blogging job, I haven’t.)
My dear wife Karen and I watched the potentially odd pairing on HBO on Demand last night.
It made for a nice 90 minutes.
I liked the chemistry between Gandolfini’s Albert and Dreyfus’ Eva, two divorced parents of teen girls in the last grasps of a summer before heading off to start college.
The two are introduced at a party one moment after Albert hears Eva blurt how she sees no attractive available men at the event. He replies how he must: There are no show-stopping available women there for him, either.
Yet they are single and somewhat agreeable and half-heartedly attracted, at least, so they agree to go out for a dinner.
During which, he makes her laugh.
At the curbside good-night, when Albert leans in for a kiss, Eva leans the other way, but gives him an “I don’t know” instead of a no.
She’s a traveling massage therapist, and the next day she hauls her table to the home of a woman she also met that at that party.
Eva is enchanted with Marianne, a poet played with new-age chic and cool by
Catherine Keener. She falls for her house and her lifestyle. They become fast friends, the kind that can talk about life, ex-husbands and dating.
Eva gives Albert another chance. They meet where he works, at the library for cool old TV shows, and that leads to this, a relationship builds, and, talker that she is, she wonders out loud where she’s going with this big, different man, talking freely with her daughter, her daughter’s friends, her friends.
Spoiler alert. You may want to avoid from here on down if you have not seen “Enough Said” and prefer to not know any more about the plot.
Little by little, a big and horrible a-ha moment falls from the sky until it hits her on the head like an anvil.
Albert is Marianne’s ex.
Instead of coming clean to all involved right then and there, Eva plays dumb, and that’s a stupid move indeed.
It sours her relationship with both Albert and Marianne when they find out at the same time that she knew of their for a while.
Her one very sincere try at apology to Albert — and his equally sincere confession of his broken heart — is a sad, sad scene indeed.
But writer and director Nicole Holofcener throws one final, open-ended hope of reconciliation between Albert and Eva as the final scene.
What made “Enough Said” more than the average My Generation rom-com was the prism of comparing how different the purely warm-hearted Gandolfini was as Albert than he was as his too often-bile spewing career-making character Tony Soprano.
There was a different man in there.
And, of course, also lurking every moment there was the thought that James Gandolfini had died after “Enough Said” had finished production.
The first rolling-credits read:
“For Jim.”
Indeed.
What did you think of James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano? Were you a fan of Gandolfini in other roles during his career? Have you seen ‘Enough Said,’ or will you see it now?
Here’s the source for the movie poster.
Mark Bialczak 
For the past few days I’ve been curled up in bed. Fatigue and pain. I needed something good to watch thanks for this suggestion.
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I’m sorry to hear that the Lupus has come at you this way at the start of summer, Kim. Damn. I hope watching some good movies can ease it if just a bit.
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I’ve been walking in the mornings. I wear a hat and sunscreen but its may be affecting me. I’ll be okay soon. I hope.
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The exercise is important. I’m glad to hear you are getting that in, Kim. I have to keep at it every day, too, because of my diabetes.
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I never even heard of it, but I want to see it now! I never realized how much I liked JLD until I recently came across some reruns of Old Christine, and she’s awesome! I never liked Seinfeld, so didn’t think I cared much about her. I don’t know who that man is at all. 😦 Thanks for the tip! 😀
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Oh, Julia was wonderful as Old Christine, you are correct.
And now that you have confessed that you never liked ‘Seinfeld,’ we can no longer be friends. Bye, Rachel.
Just joshing. I think.
Jerry grew up 20 miles from me on Long Island. We’re just a couple years apart in age. I so relate to his humor.
And you don’t know who James Gandolfini is. You never saw ‘The Sopranos’ on HBO or clips on the news when it was ending its run? That’s interesting. Very interesting.
Anyway, it’s a small but good movie, Rachel.
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LOL! I watched Seinfeld when it was on, but I got burnt out when they started showing it in reruns two hours at a time every single day after that. There are a lot of shows like that that I liked or even loved but then they made me hate them.
I have an actor friend who played “Man in Restaurant” in one episode of The Sopranos and I did what that episode, but I have no idea who any of the other characters are.
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I fell in love with James Gandolfini in his role in “Get Shorty.” He was both tough and sweet. “Tony Soprano” may have ‘made’ him, but he had that star quality in him long before. Sad that he’s gone. I didn’t have HBO, so I only saw a couple of the Sopranos episodes. Your review has me intrigued. I may check the movie out. 😉
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It’s sweet and sad, Judy. Yes, Gandolfini was good in “Get Shorty,” you are correct.
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I took your advice and skipped the rest….I want to see it. You are good at this movie review thing. 😉
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Thank you for listening and not ruining a good movie, Colleen. Good choice!
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🙂 It’s a new skill I’m working on.
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I’ll check this out, Chum.
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Good review Mark. It’s a very lovely movie that’s all about the little pleasures one can have in their lives. However, there’s an under-lining sadness of it all because of Gandolfini being gone from our lives, and what a legacy he leaves behind.
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Yes, CM, it was sad. But also, it was a celebration of what Gandolfini gave us, I think. Thanks for sharing your insight here. I hope you drop in more often. I just followed your film blog, and hope to become more regular there, too.
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Oh definitely! Thank you!
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Just because she hid her knowledge of them from Catherine and James, Julia and James couldn’t make it work?
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So it went, Kerbey. It would be a real-life shock and betrayal to a boyfriend, don’t you think?
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Just to be friends w/ his ex?
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And listen to her bad mouth him, say what a lousy husband he was, and start to question whether or not he was right for her.
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Oh, I see. That does make sense. Awkward…
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Haven’t see it yet but have been meaning to. He is/was my older brother’s idol! Not only because my brother looks exactly like Gandolfini but because they also think/thought alike. My brother was devastated when he heard the news. Such a talented man. 😦
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Wow. To have an older brother who was a Gandolfini lookalike is quite something, Mrs. B.
I think all of us of a certain generation were boltstruck to hear of James’ death. I felt poleaxed. He was our guy, felt so regular dude to me.
Enjoy the movie, Maria. It is sweet, and it is sad.
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You said enough to make me put this movie on my must-see list. Thank you, Mark!
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I like to hear that, Ann. Thank you!
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Adding this to my growing list of must see movies. Thanks hermano! Gandolfini fan here as well, btw. 😉
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Enjoy, hermana! I think you will, a lot.
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Like the others above, we loved this film–despite reservations about Louis-Dreyfus, for whom I’ve never really cared. Thought she was great, however, and appreciated the stupid move of not divulging–stupid is what humans do best, and her secret-keeping (“waiting for the right moment”) seemed natural. Gandolfini, as always, was remarkably nuanced–his vulnerability felt extra-profound in light of his many roles as a heavy. I’ve loved him since I first saw him as a foil to Patty Arquette and her swiss army knife in True Romance. Brilliant guy. Big loss, deeply missed.
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Chuck, all of your thoughts are wonderfully appreciated. Thank you so much for adding to this chapter!
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i loved, loved this movie. for someone of this same age range and out in the world of dating, it really resonated with me. i thought they both did an incredible job in this film. and i agree, i saw the ending as hopeful. i did like the sopranos, but it got to be a bit much at times, and i will miss seeing him on the screen.
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That is a great way to summarize the Sopranos, Beth. “A bit much at times.” Yup.
And this movie made me ache for the two major characters. That is a success.
Thanks for pitching in!
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Gandolfini was a fantastic actor, and he’ll continually be missed. When I was attending Oneonta, his kid was at Hartwick, which pushed him to open an Italian restaurant called The Vines, which has ceased to exist. However, his remarkable role as the temperamental and edgy Tony Soprano will forever resonate in all of time (hopefully). Everyone had a love-hate relationship with the character. Where in reality, aside the couple demons that probably haunted him as they haunt all of us, he appeared to be a genuine guy.
I cannot wait to see this movie. It’s been long awaited.
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Yes, he was believable as Tony, a gangster with a heart for family and human failings.
And I agree, Chris, who among us doesn’t have a demon or two that dog us?
Enjoy the movie. I think you will with your sensibility.
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Huge Gandolfini fan here, Mark. It is a mark of how excellent an actor he was that I was able to completely forget Tony Soprano about two minutes into this movie. He was absolutely convincing, so human and sweetly vulnerable. But the movie soured for me when the Julia character didn’t reveal immediately that she had just met the ex-wife. Sort of just devolved into a predictable thing then and I thought both actors deserved better.
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Yeah, that was pretty awful, Barbara, and out of character for what Eva had demonstrated with Albert and her daughter and daughter’s friends in the front end of the plot. However, it also allowed us the very great scene of the failed apology and the broken heart confession.
I also liked the airport goodbye and the way she and the ex begrudgingly comforted each other.
Thanks for sharing your views.
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The airport scene was immensely moving, I agree. Shows how love of a child can transcend the pain of the past.
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