Juliet, Naked is the latest Nick Hornby adaptation. But, you cry out at me for sounding snippy there. Doesn’t AV Central keep the complete Hornby library in the theater bathroom for easy reading? Why yes, we do. But, please keep your hands clean before reaching out for that dog-eared copy of High Fidelity. Before we get going, I just want to say that you can guess the nature of the film already.
A pop culture obsessive misses the first contact with his particular obsession. Said obsession has gone from America to Europe to now take a slight job and bewitch the obsessive’s girlfriend/fiancee/wife. If you guess that much, then you got the majority of the film downpat. Hornby has this odd obsession with fame as defined by the eclectic appreciation of art among collectors.
It’s true to life, but the fantasy he builds around it hasn’t felt fresh since 2000. Even when you put the same focus onto sports with Fever Pitch, the same pull isn’t felt. Does that make this film into a bad movie? No. It’s just very slight given the cast it is rocking.
While I love it when Hornby works on the films of others, I’m starting to have an incredibly hard time returning to his work. It’s good, but it’s not what it could be for a master writer. If you want a light-hearted film to watch around the Holidays, then this will do it. Just don’t ask it to perform much more. That being said, Rose Byrne is simply wonderful in the film.
Juliet, Naked Blu-ray and Digital this week.
