Marie and Bruce

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07/27/2012 (** 1/2): [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon13.gif[/img] An interesting idea, but I found the characters to be just too unlikeable. A near-miss. See more 03/05/2011 i was soooo bored =/ See more 11/14/2010 I'd personally prefer it on stage rather than on screen...still appreciate for its efforts though. See more 10/26/2010 my guess is the only reason this was made was bc moore and broderick signed on? just really not good ... even for j.moore fans. See more 08/25/2010 I was pretty excited to find out about <i>Marie and Bruce</i>, a bizarre dark comedy about the dissolution of a marriage, penned by Wallace Shawn. It's not Shawn that attracted me, but rather the two leads. The husband is Matthew Broderick, who has morphed from the rebellious teenager that he's better known for playing, and turned into the ultimate sad sack. The wife is Julianne Moore, who I've been more interested in seeing since watching <i>The Kids Are All Right<i> and <i>Chloe</i> back-to-back. Unfortunately, the promise of the actors is not upheld by the film. The movie is extremely dialogue heavy. I guess the movie was actually based on a play, and unfortunately the theater did not manage to get extracted wholly from the finished film. Many scenes - some that take place in a forest come to mind immediately - have narration covering them when the visuals would have sufficed. This becomes grating easily. But it's not just that. It's the <i>way</i> the characters talk. They repeat themselves endlessly. This is not completely verbatim, but there's a portion of the movie where Bruce (Broderick) is telling Moore* that she should not drink coffee. His lines go something like this: "Actually, darling, I've noticed that you drink coffee when you're nervous. And darling, I've noticed that when you drink coffee, you actually have a tendency of becoming more nervous. Darling, I'm not trying upset you. It's just that when you drink coffee, darling, you seem to actually become more nervous." I understand that this is, to a certain extent, part of Broderick's character. His relentless repetition and place-filling "darling" is part of the reason that Moore has had enough of him. But his mannerisms do not seem far removed from hers, and their incessant and pointless bickering does little to draw viewers in. There is one scene that works very well. As though it were a normal part of any given conversation, Bruce matter-of-factly explains to his wife that part of the problem with their relationship is that she does not have sex with him often enough. He words the allegation differently, of course, but it's enough of a shock to bring a bit of life into the scene. I don't think that extending this tendency of Bruce's would have made the movie better, though, as it is the surprise of it that makes the line a punch in the gut. The moment doesn't last. Before long, we're back to Moore's hysterical outrage at how boring Bruce is and Bruce's gnashing repetition. I've said this before, but it bears repeating. I don't think that characters have to be likeable just because they are the central characters in a film. But at the same time, when they are more exasperating than engaging, something is not being done right. <i>Bruce and Marie</i> has moments of humor, but mostly stomps around without going anywhere at all. *I say Moore instead of "Marie" because, although it is likely her character's name, I don't remember anybody actually calling her by it. So I found myself wondering whether "Marie" was somebody else entirely. See more 06/19/2010 Annoying, repetitive and rude! Although the pace of the conversation is mildly interesting it does nothing to help the movie. Incredibly overacted! I struggled to watch the whole movie See more Read all reviews

Marie and Bruce

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