Don’t dare call Maude Apatow a mere “nepo baby.” Her winning directorial debut proves she has the chops behind the camera as well as in front (Euphoria), Apatow name or no Apatow name. Poetic License, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in a prime Saturday night slot, is evidence of the emergence of a major triple threat talent (also a producer with Olivia Rosenbloom under their Jewelbox Pictures banner).
That’s the headline but it is not meant to take away from the achievements of Raffi Donatich, whose supremely intelligent and raucously amusing screenplay is her feature writing debut, or a cast that just kills it. In fact this is the kind of ensemble where you can imagine every one of them, ala American Graffiti, being remembered for their collective early work in this engaging sleeper of a comedy that quite frankly caught me by surprise with so many LOL moments, building to true unbridled hilarity by the time it ends. Poetic License could be the true discovery of this year’s TIFF.
Not least among its charms is yet another memorable performance from Apatow’s mother, Leslie Mann who has proven time and time again she is one of the best out there, and here gets a dream role as Liz Cassidy, a wife and mother in a bit of a life crisis, about to be an empty nester with her daughter Dora (Nico Parker) wanting to move away and no longer looking for comfort from Mom. She also is stuggling to find some sort of footing in a new town where her husband James (Cliff ‘Method Man’ Smith), a college professor has found a new job. Looking for her own worth, she joins a poetry class as an auditor where she first meets a couple of students, the dynamic self-possessed Ari (Cooper Hoffman) and his best friend, buttoned up Sam (Andrew Barth Feldman), who is facing the prospect of joining Morgan Stanley, the brokerage firm he keeps referring to as Tracy Morgan. Neither of them are certain of their lives, even though Sam also has a girlfriend, Grace (Maisy Stella) and looks to be on something of a firmer career track (he thinks). Encouraging Liz to be more active in the class than as just an auditor, the three eventually become fast friends, and Liz finds herself enveloped in their world, as both slowly develop feelings for this much older married woman. Looking for acceptance as she is, Liz misreads their intentions and this threesome get a little too close for comfort.
That would be what develops into the main plot here, but for much of its early running time, this is a movie simply about people trying to grow up and find their place in the world, and that isn’t limited to the young, but everyone including Liz. Donatich’s whipsmart script is character-driven, witty and wise in giving each of them a distinct personality as their decisions start to careen out of control. It also makes sly comments on colleges themselves with one reference to the ‘Cryptocurrency Department’. “You know the kids are really excited about the new bitcoin class,” the college president tells a professor in one of the film’s wry throwaway lines.
Mann gets a role that starts as one thing, a woman realizing her life at the moment isn’t adding up to what she hoped, and trying to move on (a dialogue-less scene where she is deciding which of Dora’s old clothes to donate is priceless and poignant). Liz creeps on you, as she ironically becomes the center of the film’s coming-of-age theme. The sly attraction that Sam and Ari begin to feel for her is not pronounced, it just is, coming to a head one night when they all get high, innocently enough, but with consequences.
Hoffman, so great in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza, and just as fine here, creates a portrait of a self-confident, sharp-talking guy who thinks he has the answers, but doesn’t. Feldman, who made a real impression with Jennifer Lawrence as a 19-year-old losing his virginity in No Hard Feelings and has just replaced Darren Criss in the Tony-winning Maybe Happy Ending, is the perfect combo of nervous energy and sheer confusion as Sam. And if they ever decide to do a remake of The Graduate (which let’s hope they never do), he is your Benjamin.
There are so many others with their moments, including My Old Ass breakout Maisy Stella as Sam’s girlfriend, who becomes shocked when she realizes he may be fancying the mother of a classmate, and the certified scene stealer here, Martha Kelly (Euphoria), who delivers pitch perfect deadpan stream of consciousness as the professor offering TMI in the poetry class where some this movie’s most amusing and even affecting scenes take place. The mark of a brilliant director might be counted on how many actors get their moments in smaller roles, and this film is full of them, notably Steve Coulter in for one memorable scene as a seatmate whose nose cold causes consternation for Liz at a dinner party.
It would be nice if this deserving film gets a theatrical release, even if movies like this seem to head to streaming more often than not these days. Sitting in the Royal Alexandra Theatre last night, hearing all that convulsive laughter once again, made me think comedies are made to be experienced in a theater. Hopefully we can get back to that someday. In the meantime, Maude Apatow’s impressive first film is a keeper, no matter where you find it.
Producers are Judd Apatow, Josh Church, Benjamin Hung, Thalia Daniel, Will Greenfield, Olivia Rosenbloom and Maude Apatow.
Title: Poetic LicenseFestival: Toronto Film Festival – Special PresentationsSales Agent: WME IndependentDirector: Maude ApatowScreenplay: Raffi DonatichCast: Leslie Mann, Cooper Hoffman, Andrew Barth Feldman, Nico Parker, Cliff “Method Man” Smith, Maisy Stella, Martha Kelly, Jake Bongiovi, Jayla Walton, Matt Riedy, Steve Coulter, Sabrina Jie-A-Fa, Will PriceRunning Time: 1 hour and 57 minutes
The post ‘Poetic License’ Review: Maude Apatow’s Smart & Funny Directing Debut Gifts Mom Leslie Mann With Dynamite Lead Role – Toronto Film Festival appeared first on Deadline.
