Word: film
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2000
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Lenny does not find sex during his summer in Queens, but he forges important relationships. With his friend Jonny and two girls from the neighborhood, he goes through the rites of passages that have become so entrenched in the "coming of age" film; he joins a "sex club" with his friends, meets his first love, a twenty-something nurse named Hedy, and eventually begins to realize the complicated relationship between love...
Though its premise is original, the abundance of stereotypes means that Just Looking can't be a truly significant film. You can't help notice each new cliche, from the pin-up of Hedy as a lingerie model to the kosher butcher Mark, a throw-back to Fiddler on the Roof's Lazar Wolf...
What keeps Just Looking merely predictable rather than boring are its characters. First-time film director Jason Alexander (yes, George from "Seinfeld") clearly loves his actors and the characters they portray. Every character, from Lenny to the old Italian assistant at the grocery store, is vivid and sharply delineated and the performances are sensitive and compelling. Ryan Merriman, as Lenny, does an especially impressive job. Gretchen Mol, who disappeared from Hollywood radar after being proclaimed the new "it" girl on the cover of Vanity Fair, has reinstated herself with her charming turn as Hedy...
...look at Jason, you think comedy", said the film's writer Marshall Karp of director Alexander. But in fact the comic scenes are not the film's strong point. The sex club scenes, where Lenny and his friends discuss everything from the missionary position to masturbation, sound contrived. Their conversations are too clinical for a group of teenagers talking about...
...strength of the movie lies instead in its emotional component, in the complexities brought forth by the characters and their relationships. This makes Just Looking a heart-warming and worthwhile, even if not memorable, film...