JULIET, NAKED – Review

Rose Byrne and Ethan Hawke in JULIET, NAKED. Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions.

First off, there is no nudity in JULIET, NAKED nor is there anyone named Juliet. The title refers to an album by a long-vanished indie rock singer-songwriter. There is, however, a lot of humor, romantic conundrums, reflections on regrets and life mid-way, and of course, music, in this warmly entertaining adaptation of Nick Hornby’s novel of the same name.

Complicated romances, humor and music are the staples of Nick Hornby’s novels. The film JULIET, NAKED fits the mold but unlike HIGH FIDELITY, director Jesse Peretz’s take on that combination leans more humorous than romantic. Yet just when it seems to be settling into a standard romantic comedy mold, it takes an unexpected turn into the more serious and thoughtful. The people in this film are approaching middle age or already there, and are re-assessing their choices and dealing with their regrets. The film is about second chances but also about how messy real lives actually are.

Annie (Rose Byrne) feels stuck, living in the same small seaside English town where she grew up and running the local museum her father ran before her. She also feels stuck in her 15-year relationship with her boyfriend Duncan (Chris O’Dowd), a professor of film and television at a local college. Often, she feels like she’s is in a three-way relationship with Duncan and his true passion and obsession, an American singer-songwriter from the ’90s named Tucker Crowe (Ethan Hawke), who mysteriously disappeared just as he achieved modest fame.

Duncan runs a blog devoted to Tucker Crowe, where he posts about his works and discusses rumors about sightings and other details. Even though the musician hasn’t recorded anything in 25 years, there still is a small but devoted group of fans who, like Duncan, are convinced he was an unsung genius. Tucker’s sudden disappearance came shortly after the modest success of his one hit album, “Juliet,” about his failed love affair with a woman named Julie, a disappearance thought to be linked to his broken heart over the affair. This romantic tale keeps Duncan and followers on his website hungry for any tidbits about the elusive singer-songwriter or a comeback.

Although Duncan lectures on film and TV at the college and organizes academic seminars on film, his real passion is for Tucker Crowe. He is more an obsessive Tucker Crowe fan than obsessed with music generally. Duncan has turned a basement room in the home he shares with Annie into a kind of Tucker Crowe shrine, filled with posters, magazine covers and other memorabilia. Listening to Duncan ramble on about his passion, it begins to dawn on Annie how weary she is growing of Duncan’s self-absorption, his big ego, his academic pronouncements and especially Tucker Crowe. When Duncan gets an early demo version of Tucker’s hit, a track titled “Juliet, Naked,” from an anonymous sender, Duncan deems it brilliant. Annie is not impressed, dubbing it unpolished and far inferior to the final version. After arguing with Duncan, Annie posts an anonymous review on Duncan’s fan site, criticizing the demo, which leads to an email commenting on the post, agreeing with Anne’s assessment. She’s shocked when she sees it is signed Tucker Crowe.

Unsure if the sender is the real Tucker Crowe, Annie does not tell Duncan about the email. It is indeed the long-vanished Tucker, and they email back and forth for awhile, sharing their life stories. Annie finds she likes the real Tucker much more than the myth she’s been living with, and Tucker is charmed by this down-to-earth Brit who is unimpressed with his rock star past. Tucker’s correspondence with Annie gives both of them an outlet to air their feelings and regrets as they reconsidering their own life choices, and dream a bit about second chances.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., Tucker has had a messy life. Now is living in the garage behind his ex-wife’s house, the middle-aged, graying and scruffy Tucker long ago abandoned his interest in music and now cares for their 7-year-old son Jackson (Azhy Robertson). The boy is one of several Tucker has with various women, but the only one he’s really helped raise. Remorseful about his past failings as a parent, Tucker wants to make amends although he is not too good at it. He’d like to reconnect with his far-flung children but he is more leery of facing their disapproving mothers.

Circumstances bring Tucker to England, which gives the two a chance to meet face-to-face. Inevitably, Duncan is going to find out his potential romantic rival is his musical idol. The film plays with the farce comedy potential in that for a while and starts to look like it is going to take a conventional romantic comedy route. But then it takes an unexpected turn into the more serious.

A lot of the appeal in this film comes from its cast. The major focus of the film is turning points and second chances, and Annie is more the central character than either guy. Rose Byrne is a complete charmer as Annie, a woman longing to escape her rut and break free of her past of subverting her own dreams to serve others. Having raised her younger sister after her mother’s death, she then returned to her quaint little seaside village to care for her aging father, helping him at the museum, then taking over the job. Byrne’s Annie is a sweet long-suffering soul, everyone’s rock, and now catering to Duncan’s whims, but she is quirky and funny as well. Annie is ready for change but she’s not sure getting involved in Tucker’s messy life is the best choice.

Ethan Hawke is having a remarkable run, first with his strong performance as a flinty husband in last year’s MAUDIE and this year in searing dramatic performance as a grieving, guilt-ridden minister in FIRST REFORMED, and now this sweeter one about a man trying to straighten out his own messy life. Hawke’s Tucker is both charming and flawed, feeling like he wants to make things right in his life but not sure if he can. Tucker’s impulse to put things right is admirable but he also wants to run and hide when his past comes calling. There is one very funny scene that sums this up, in a hospital where his exes and children arrive one by one, creating noisy confusion and stress for the barely-competent ex-musician.

Chris O’Dowd presence as Duncan helps push the film in the comic direction but O’Dowd plays a somewhat different character than his usual lovable working-class slob. When he’s obsessing over his musical idol, he’s a total geek but in his role as an instructor, he is a jerk and a self-important snob, offering his students academic analysis of episodes of “The Wire” and organizing self- aggrandizing seminars, while dismissing opinions that differ from his own. O’Dowd tamps down his usual comic goofiness but the casting choice lends the character a little more softness, making him seem more foolish and a clueless idiot than simply a jerk.

None of these characters are young, and there is a freshness to a story about people in mid-life reconsidering their direction. It is a pretty rare thing particularly in a romantic comedy, The cast and director keep us interested in what surprises lurk around the next turn for these characters. Annie wants to break free of her rut but getting involved in Tucker’s messy life might not be what she needs or wants. Falling into yet another romantic relationship might not be what disorganized Tucker needs either, as much as sweet Annie tugs at his heart. They both have to figure it out.

JULIET, NAKED isn’t profound but it is far better, and far more thoughtful, than most romantic comedies, a film made particularly enjoyable by its excellent cast.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars