moviereview colin fraser film movie australia review critic flicks
Richard Loncraine’s My One And Only is inspired by the pre-fame period in the life of the Hollywood actor, George Hamilton. Written by Charlie Peters, adapted from a conversation with Hamilton about how he ended up in Los Angeles, it is a script that is full of one-liners that are delivered by performances which carry them off perfectly.
It is 1953, in New York, when we meet Ann Devereaux (Renee Zellweger), whose character is somewhere between Katherine Hepburn and Blanche Dubois in that she has the charm of a New York socialite and the need to rely on the ‘charity of others’. She has discovered her philandering husband, Dan (Kevin Bacon), in bed with the singer from his band, whom Ann openly calls a ‘slut’ in no uncertain terms. We learn quickly that she takes no prisoners.
After emptying the family’s safety deposit box and sending her son George (Logan Lerman), off to a car yard to buy an expensive baby-blue Cadillac Coupe, she bundles the family which also includes George’s half-brother Robbie (Mark Rendell), on a road trip in search of a new husband. It was, after all, the fifties - a time when women were standing up for themselves by not staying with their unfaithful husbands then searching for a level of independence that meant being in the safe hands of another man. Oh the irony!
This journey is full of adventure and a sense of uncertainty as they head along Route 66 on their way to California. We meet several prospective beaus on the way. The most significant being Dr. Harlan Williams (Chris Roth), who turns out to be an army doctor with an authoritarian temper; and Bill Massey (David Koechner), who is a successful paint store owner who turns out to be totally delusional. One is made to think that all men are bastards in Ann’s life, but she does have a very sweet on-screen moment with Bud (Nick Stahl), who is mesmerized by her charm and she in turn refers to him as ‘the only real gentleman I’ve encountered since I left New York’.
Zellweger is at her best as she pouts and sashays her way through the film. Bacon is perfectly cast as her slightly sleazy husband, a band leader, who is post-Gershwin but not yet rock –and- roll. However, it is the two brothers who work as a perfect tag team. George is desperately trying to find his creative niche and is coerced by his mother to come to California to get some sun (a direct reference to Hamilton’s perennial tan in real life) and Robbie, who is utterly believable as the effeminate wannabe actor, who turns out to be better suited for a job in wardrobe. This gag is carried throughout the film as he acts as his mother’s personal stylist.
This is a wonderful story of a rather offbeat family and shows how people can bond through circumstance. The fact that there are references made in the film to Salinger’s Catcher In The Rye made me wonder if Hamilton’s quirky view on life was not unlike that of Holden Caulfield’s. In the meantime, sit back and enjoy this little gem and ruminate why Zellweger was not nominated for an Oscar this year.
// SALT
moviereview colin fraser film movie australia review critic flicks