‘It must be very nice to be you…’
Sofia Coppola. Hmm. I enjoyed The Virgin Suicides, I’ve never seen Marie Antoinette and, brace yourselves, I could never get on with Lost in Translation. I know that for some people, the latter admission is akin to saying that I don’t have a heart beating in my chest, but honestly? I just thought that movie was pretty boring. And so I wasn’t sure what to expect from On the Rocks. It kind of sounded like more of the same. Considered introspection. Adorable lead actress. Bill Murray. But actually, I was to be pleasantly surprised…
Laura (Rashida Jones) and Dean (Marlon Wayans) are newlyweds. Everything is going just swell until Laura’s playboy father Felix (Bill Murray) appears on the scene and starts casting doubts upon the whole relationship.
Now, I love Bill Murray as much as the next man. More than the next man even. I love Bill Murray more than nearly every other next man. However, his latter career has seen him (often deliberately) slip into self parody from time to time, and while there is nobody better at skewering themselves than him, it detracts from the fact that he can be a great actor when given the opportunity. On the Rocks allows Murray to have his cake and eat it as he gets to play on his image as a larger-than-life sophisticate whilst also finding room for some truly dramatic moments during the quieter scenes. He shares a believable father-daughter chemistry with Jones (who is also excellent) and as a double team, they carry a film that is pretty light on plot. Not quite funny enough to be a comedy, and too frothy to be full blown drama, On the Rocks is a studied meditation on fatherhood, masculinity and sexual politics, and the cast elevate the material into something enjoyable enough to ensure that I actually came away from this movie wishing that it were longer.
I also came away from this movie still unsure of my opinion on Coppola generally, but more open to exploring the rest of her work. An understated but satisfying piece of work.