These boys need some family therapy, and we do care about them.
We start at a movie theater when the dentist Peter (Griffin Dunne) finds out that his father Simon (Richard Benjamin) is divorcing his mother (Marcia Jean Kurtz) after 65 years. He tries to talk him out of it, but their spouses have returned to their seats with popcorn and the movie is starting. 6 years later, Peter is getting divorced from Maria (Rosanna Arquette from “Pulp Fiction”), while his dying father is settling in his nursing home. And his older son Nick (James Norton) is breaking up with his fiancée Thea (Rachel Zeiger-Haag). This is the concept of “Ex-Husbands,” a Indie comedy that has its own ways of dealing with divorce, break-ups, and a death in the family.
I came across a New York Times article with the heading “Four Unweddings and a Funeral,” and that’s a perfect way to describe “Ex-Husbands.” Nice touch, Nicolas Rapold. And the poster and trailer does have Peter, Nick, and Mickey wearing black suits, so, of course, there would be a death in the family as well.
Despite Nick’s break-up, and he hasn’t told his family or groomsmen yet, Nick and his younger brother Mickey (Miles Heizer from “Parenthood”), who was supposed to be his best man, go to Tulum, Mexico for what was supposed to be his bachelor party. Their old man booked his personal trip that same weekend, and because he didn’t get travel insurance, he can’t cancel his flight reservation. When they all meet up, he tells his boys: “You won’t even know I’m here.” But that’s not the movie’s biggest concern.
We also see Mickey coming out of the closet and having an affair with Nick’s married friend Arroyo (Pedro Fontaine), who doesn’t want to leave his wife for him. In fact, he pretends he’s a straight man. There’s not much depth in this subplot, but what unfolds in each of his brother and father’s lives sets off the pathos within.
“Ex-Husbands” was written and directed by Noah Pritzker, who based it on his own parents’ divorce after 35 years of marriage. This movie is more low-key than funny, but it does resonate with reality as well as earlier Woody Allen films or maybe even current Azazel Jacobs films, based on how the characters deal with their turmoil.
It’s funny, because I just gave a mixed review to “Old Guy,” a small time action comedy, which works with its chemistry between the leading actors Christoph Waltz, Cooper Hoffman, and Lucy Liu, but failed in its execution and screenplay. “Ex-Husbands” is a lot more interesting than that film, in terms of its leading characters, brilliantly portrayed by Dunne, Norton, and Heizer. They deliver their acting on delicate balances, and they know how to adapt with the film’s melancholy tone.
I’m glad the father crashing his son’s bachelor getaway doesn’t take the obvious or irritable approach, but rather allows he and his boys to push that issue aside and focus on their own situations. We don’t get much out of the women, but Arquette is the one who stands out with how she handles her character’s dialogue (“I would just rather rip the band aid off,” she says). And maybe this film wants to be told from the guys’ perspectives. I’m not saying this out of sexism, but more out of examination. I’ve never been married or in a relationship, so I could I understand what these guys are going through? But that doesn’t mean I can’t, at least, sympathize with them.
“Ex-Husbands” is a charming and sad film that doesn’t oversell or overdramatize its characters, and Pritzker, whom I’ve never heard of before, expresses his own family drama with truth and consistency. We’re going to need some time before we sign the divorce papers.
In Select Theaters and Streaming on VOD