A Rather Tepid Affair We’ve Seen Before!
By ALAN SAMUEL
Love comes in all shapes and sizes. Two married people become entangled in family friction in Take This Waltz the latest vision from Mongrel Media now strutting its stuff at Vancouver’s venerable Fifth Avenue Cinemas.
Home grown talent Seth Rogen again continues to delve into dramatic territory as a rather hen-pecked husband to a more bubbly Michelle Williams. After five years of marriage you can feel the love lapse. Things become a bit “testy” with the arrival of a new neighbour across the street whose not above trying to romance the little lady off her feet. Now we’ve all seen this scenario before. Here Canadian actress turned director Sarah Polley churns out the usual trials and tribulations of a rather tepid affair.
Over the course of 106 minutes we do get to see a bunch of interesting locations that spark some life in an otherwise ho hum movie. Those expecting lots of heat and passion in this flick may be a bit disappointed. Rogen is void of humour here which is unfortunate as its his real forte. What he’s trying to do is branch out into different territory but due to a rather weak story written also by Polley he doesn’t get much traction. Shot back east in Canada Take This Waltz is another film bankrolled by Canadian taxpayers through Telefilm and will likely only do well among the film festival circuit and artsy crowd.
A touch of Canadian history is included for good measure and the film starts and closes along similar lines. Included in this cast is some truly offbeat candid remarks between the spouses that is way too contrived and unbelievable to resonate and there’s some scant nudity that adds nothing to the proceedings. About the best thing to recommend in this movie is a hilarious performance by an aerobics instructor. Also on hand is Sarah Silveman as a family member who does do drunk pretty good.
All thing considered, Take This Waltz is not really worth taking in on the big screen unless you like little family dramas with not that much going on and tepid love jousts.
