FilmFemme

We Don’t Live Here Anymore is my second deterioration-of-a-marriage movie in as many days. I didn’t like it as much as Two for the Road but it was adequate.

Jack (Mark Ruffalo, whose hair seems to get fluffier as his marriage gets worse) is married to Terry (Laura Dern, who gets bonier and drunker as her marriage gets worse) and they are BFF with Hank (Peter Krause, also incredibly scruffy – seriously, I know that associate professors at small liberal arts colleges (which both guys are) aren’t exactly rolling in dough, but neither of these guys can afford a razor?) and Edith (Naomi Watts who has incredibly pretty hair). Of course, Jack is fucking Edith and Hank is putting the moves on Terry and such is the impetus of plot! Most of the drama takes place in Jack & Terry’s house where Terry is usually drunk and screaming about how Jack doesn’t love her (because he doesn’t). Eventually Hank and Terry fuck too and then it’s just a big ol’ mess. Blah blah blah maybe love will conquer all again? Maybe.

This movie certainly doesn’t reinvent the cheating-spouse or marriage-in-trouble movie genre (see Little Children, The Secret Lives of Dentists, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? which are all superior to this one), but solid performances & realistic dialogue plus really comforting – almost cozy – production design made it pretty enjoyable nonetheless. I’m not sure if in a small character study like this I’m supposed to notice the production design because it’s should be so real or something, but toward the end it was almost all I was noticing. Everything is very earthy and warm and there was so much TEXTURE that I really just wanted to step into that living room and sit on their really awesome velvety red couch. The same goes for the clothes which especially highlighted the differences between the two women (airy J. Crew pastels and espadrilles for blonde Edith and darker, heavier bohemian-wear for wild-haired Terry). Anyway, I liked these details a lot, but they did distract me from what was going on in the movie (OMG, who cares who she’s fucking, I want that dress!) so maybe some of the scenes could have been a little more engaging.

Though the realism is effective throughout, this was one scene that I really couldn’t believe:

A frustrated Peter Krause hasn’t been able to make any progress on his novel so he decides to out into the hall where he stops one of his students. She isn’t totally fug, but isn’t some super-hot coed either. Anyway, he makes some really creepy pass at her and she kind of runs off. Now, none of my college professors were ever hot so I never felt compelled to flirt with them or anything. But if I had a professor that looked like Peter Krause and he came on to me, even if he was a little creepy about it, well I’m pretty sure I would be bent over his desk faster than…um. Nevermind. I can’t believe that fugly girl turned him down is all I’m saying.

For a movie about adultery there isn’t too much fucking or nudity. Actually I don’t think they even showed tits, which is too bad in the case of Naomi Watts but pretty irrelevant in the case of Laura Dern who has probably never even touched a bra (that link is NSFW if you work at some stuck-up place that hates tits).

There will probably always be a market for these intimate, low budget, dialogue-heavy, cheating lover relationship dramas. And that market will probably always consist of me. And this one has dynamic and interesting characters, even if we are only allowed entree into a tiny slice of their lives.