GOLDEN EXITS

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Film Review by FIORE

New Yorkers are neurotic; yet, consistently they feel their neurosis is the bar everyone else should strive to attain.  This maxim is the foundation for the new film by writer, director Alex Ross Perry, GOLDEN EXITS.  It concerns the lives of intertwined couples who experience a shaken not stirred moment when an Australian woman invades their superficial existence through a foreign exchange internship.

Nick, played by Adam Horovitz, is a broken and defeated man.  Only in his 40’s, he has reached a point in his marriage that usually doesn’t strike until the 60’s.  He is forlorn, succumbing to a banal existence.  His wife, Alyssa, played by Chloe Sevigny, cannot forgive him for a past indiscretion, so she torments his life with a lack of affection and a constant melancholy akin to serving in hell.  This is particularly twisted since she is a psychologist and spends her days listening to and giving life advice to others.  She is an expert in what she herself, cannot do; come to grips with life as it is and seek happiness.  Her sister Gwen, played by Mary Louise Parker, is a shrew in the Shakespearean sense; unable to maintain a relationship of any kind, she serves as the catalyst for breaking up relationships that others have, including her sister’s.

Into this dysfunctional mess comes Naomi, played by Emily Browning.  She has an internship with Nick, who is an archiver.  Unfortunately, his current job is to archive his father-in-law’s estate, which brings the entire family into conflict.  Everyone assumes Nick is having an affair with Naomi and they all foster their own insecurities with innuendo.  Naomi, meanwhile, wants desperately to have coitus with the one character in the film she cannot have; Buddy, played by Jason Schwartzman, is slow to realize Naomi’s come-ons, but is committed to his marriage and wife and wants no part of Naomi’s advances.  

It’s interesting that in this age of the Woman Warrior Agenda in Tinseltown, the female characters are all portrayed as strong and independent, but totally unsympathetic.  They are, instead pathetic, pleading for avoidance.  These women, embodying the principles so desired on celluloid today, are unmasked for their hypocrisy when confronted by a foreign woman seeking to simply sow her wild oats with a childhood friend. The only woman of any character in GOLDEN EXITS is Buddy’s wife, Jess, played by Analeigh Tipton, who stays loyal and true to him, trusts him and does not become engaged in the gossip of the others.  Perhaps this is irony on the part of Perry.

There is a melodic, but cheesy score by Keegan DeWitt.  It bounces freely from forgettable pop to syrupy dribble.  GOLDEN EXITS call for nothing exceptionally creative from the camera, but Cinematographer Sean Prince Williams (another of the dreaded three name people) does frame his two shots effectively.   Finally, editor Robert Greene incorporates a film tradition of a long, slow fade to black at the end of a sequence, followed by a slow up from black into the next scene.  This serves to keep the concluding action in some sequences a mystery, which plays to the film’s benefit.

There is no doubt GOLDEN EXITS greatest asset is its ensemble cast.  The actors hold this self-serving story together.  The bottom line, however, is that none of these characters is exceptionally interesting.  They have created their own hell on earth and somehow expect viewers to emote with their plight.  It’s, like I said, a New York thing.  

While the acting is solid, the script screams “Who cares?”.  Women will like this one.  Wait a few months until it shows up on OWN, then find an excuse to watch the hockey game in the neighborhood bar with friends.