Marriage Under the Spotlight
Barnaby (Richard Dreyfuss) and Maxine Pierce (Judy Davis) have been through plenty during their marriage; their eldest son died in a crash, they have both been unfaithful and with their other children having left home the truth is starting to show. Their marriage is over and they have only stayed together and in the family home so that when their children come they can put the happy married couple pretence on. But having decided to sell the home and get divorced they take one final trip together, driving across county to attend their son's wedding forced to confront the issues in their marriage.
I think I am pretty regular sort of guy, okay so my love of movies is a bit extreme but I have two feet, find things funny as well as cry when something makes me feel emotional. I suppose the one thing not so typical is that despite some long term relationships I have never been married and that is a problem when it comes to "Coast to Coast" because I get a feel that maybe you need to have been married and maybe even divorced to appreciate this story of a couple heading for divorce having a nostalgic road trip where they catch up with old friends and analyse the failing of their marriage.
Maybe it isn't that I don't relate to the story but the whole neediness of the characters to understand things. It has that sort of therapy side where everyone feels the need to get things off their chests and end things with some sort of wise crack. I am looking for the right words and I suppose it is a sense this movie is being smug in trying to be intelligently smart with its wit and insightful dialogue.
What this all boils down to is that "Coast to Coast" didn't work for me as it had the pseudo intelligence which I don't get. But at the same time I can appreciate why those who like those movies which analyse failure with lots of wit.
