Remembering Nick Hornby and a Review of Juliet, Naked

I went to go see “Juliet, Naked” and before anyone thinks I went to a strip club, it’s a movie based on a Nick Hornby novel. Nick Hornby and Bradley Cooper are names I previously could not remember, and now I do which means there is something in my past I have finally let go of. Perhaps it was my first day of school, or some important life lesson in the third grade. Something about the importance of flushing. It’ll come back to me.

For the longest time I couldn’t remember Bradley Cooper or Nick Hornby. I kept thinking Bruce Hornsby for Hornby and Bradley Cooper wasn’t being recalled at all. The reason why the block remained so long is that I could just google things like “Silver Linings Playbook” and “Hi Fidelity” and look at their IMDB, and thus I haven’t remembered it without googling until now.

Still, that’s just the way it is, some things will never change. - Bruce Hornsby and the Range

This means there will be other things to come that I will not remember.  New hurdles of names that I will find difficult to remember. Perhaps I have forgotten you, but that’s alright as you most probably have forgotten me. I bet Facebook puts me in algorithm “time out” because of my lack of posts.

But back to “Juliet, Naked.” The movie was OK, and be OK, I mean “meh” in the parlance of our time. I felt like I was seeing Hornby doing an impression of the British version of “You’ve Got Mail” with a bit of Hi Fidelity thrown in for good measure. I like both of those films as they are very strong on their own. This felt like a watered down version of those movies. The alchemy just wasn’t there. And I like Ethan Hawke, don’t get me started on how much I loved “Before Sunrise” and I won’t mention how much I wasn’t into “Boyhood” because it felt like gimmicky Oscar pandering.

Rose Byrne isn’t anyone to sneeze at either. Although I looked through her filmography and nothing really jumped out at me as her definitive role. I welcome anyone who would tell me I am insane and then name the iconic film of Rose Byrne. By the way, that iconic movie you are asserting is a Rose Byrne film is actually a film by Emily Blunt. And how dare you, they don’t even look that much alike!

So the movie, in a nutshell, is about this guy in the second to the back row of my theater who sounds like Doc Holiday. I think he coughed up a lung during the movie, and they probably have a cooler en route from Fresno. If you have Ebola or Bronchitis, don’t come to a public theater. Or at least take some Dayquil™ or Sudafed™, or bring an Iron Lung.

Okay, seriously, the movie is about Duncan (Chris O’Dowd) and Annie (Rose Byrne) who are living together but really have grown apart. Duncan is more into Tucker Crowe (Ethan Hawke) who is an obscure rock musician who only released one album. Rose wants a family, but Duncan isn’t listening to her as he is too busy composing blogs for his “Tucker Crowe” blog. It’s probably fans like Duncan that caused Billy Joel not to write any more music.

At a point in the movie, Duncan receives an unplugged demo version of the Crowe Album called “Juliet, Naked” and Annie’s response to it is that it is dreary, which it is. Because of this, Annie gets an email from Tucker and a relationship grows through their being honest with one another.

I like all the players in the movie. From the kids to the three main actors on the screen. But it felt tired. And maybe that is one of the messages of the movie, that as you get old, a bit of maturity is just too tired to fight growing older.

My advice is that if you have A-List, take in this movie, but otherwise wait until it streams on Netflix, Hulu, or any of the many other streaming services out there. Also, if you are in the mood for a Romantic Comedy, definitely pick up Hi Fidelity, About a Boy, or any of the other many great Nick Hornby movies out there.