Rom-com 'Juliet Naked' is indeed romantic and comedic
Romantic comedies 鈥� good romantic comedies 鈥� used to be such a fixture in the Hollywood firmament that when a pretty good one comes along now, it鈥檚 likely to be overpraised. 鈥淛uliet, Naked,鈥� directed by Jesse Peretz and adapted from the 2009 Nick Hornby novel, will never be mistaken for a classic, but it鈥檚 rather sweet and unprepossessing. Unusual for a rom-com these days, it actually manages to be both romantic and comedic.
Annie (Rose Byrne) lives with Duncan (Chris O鈥橠owd), her arts professor boyfriend of 10 years, in an English coastal town, where she works at a museum where her father also worked. Dutiful to a fault, she tolerates Duncan鈥檚 fixation on an obscure 鈥�90s rocker, Tucker Crowe, who had one smash album, 鈥淛uliet,鈥� and then disappeared from the scene. Duncan manages a fan blog that soaks up much of his at-home time; his workspace is practically a shrine to Tucker.聽
The funny thing about Duncan鈥檚 obsession is that, in almost every other way, he鈥檚 a schlubby layabout. He鈥檚 a genial obsessive. He recognizes he has a good thing going with Annie, if only because she doesn鈥檛 really challenge him. (She wants kids, he doesn鈥檛, so no kids.) But Annie finds her mettle when a package containing an acoustic demo for the 鈥淛uliet鈥� album mysteriously finds its way to Duncan in the mail and she opens it first and plays it without telling him. For Duncan, this preemption of male privilege is galling, but the best is yet to come: She thinks the demo is mediocre and says so on his fan blog. This sacrilege has the unintended effect of drawing out the actual Tucker Crowe, who agrees with her. An email 鈥渃ourtship鈥� ensues.
If all this sounds a bit twee and Nora Ephron-ish, you would not be wrong, but Peretz and the screenwriters 鈥� Evgenia Peretz, Jim Taylor, and Tamara Jenkins 鈥� keep things refreshingly funky. And when Tucker, played by Ethan Hawke, enters the picture, lured to London on a rather contrived pretext, the dual elements in this rom-com cohere.聽
Hawke is perfect casting because, as an actor, he already carries the superannuated Generation X vibes that define Tucker. Showing up looking rather shaggy and lumpy, he is the quintessential rocker gone to seed, but there is no bitterness in him. It鈥檚 clear he didn鈥檛 covet fame, and he doesn鈥檛 seem to be hampered by any artistic regrets, either. It鈥檚 not obvious from the music of his that we hear if we are supposed to regard him as a neglected genius or just a semi-
talented has-been, but it almost doesn鈥檛 matter. 鈥淛uliet, Naked鈥� isn鈥檛 about Tucker鈥檚 second chance as an artist; it鈥檚 about his second chance at a life.聽
Tucker 鈥� who arrives in London with his doting young son Jackson (Azhy Robertson) in tow, his fifth child by four different women 鈥� has been living in the garage behind an ex-wife鈥檚 house in New York and living off royalties. By the time he and Annie meet up, Duncan has already moved out, courtesy of an affair with a fellow faculty member, so the coast is clear for a tentative connection. Annie clearly outgrew her relationship with Duncan. The question for her now is whether she can grow into a new one.
Byrne is such a quicksilver presence that it is not always believable that Annie would often be so lacking in self-esteem. But her somewhat generic British reserve plays well opposite Tucker鈥檚 shambling Americanness. They fulfill one of the central tenets of the rom-com genre: Opposites attract. But the attraction is tentative and slow-growing, and this saves the movie from slickness. We seem to discover them as they are discovering each other.聽
One of the bright sidelights to 鈥淛uliet, Naked鈥� is the bemused way it deals with the crazy-making ramifications of hero worship. The film is asking what you would do if you actually met your idol. When Duncan first comes across Tucker, he doesn鈥檛 even recognize him as who he is. And when he does later, the confab does not go well. What Duncan doesn鈥檛 get is that rockers are much more (and also much less) than the sum of their recordings. It鈥檚 part of Duncan鈥檚 man-boy immaturity that he can鈥檛 comprehend Tucker for who he really is. But Annie does, and this is her saving grace. It turns out to be Tucker鈥檚, too. Grade: B+ (Rated R for language.)
