Lorene Scafaria wrote and directed The Meddler. Scafaria also wrote and directed Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist and Seeking a Frined for the End of the World. I mention this because what I’m about to criticize isn’t some rookie mistake. Scafaria should know better.
The Meddler begins with a mind-numbing half hour of filler. Susan Sarandon is a widow from New York City who has moved to Los Angeles to be near her narcissistic scriptwriter daughter. Scafaria’s script has Sarandon volunteering at a hospital, taking care of dogs, and spraying plants with water. The movie actually begins when Sarandon meets a retired cop played by J. K. Simmons who raises chickens and rides a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. For five brief minutes the movie screen was alive with two stars acting. Then Scafaria’s script sends Sarandon to New York City to watch her daughter’s TV pilot. Yawn. Finally, Sarandon flies back to California, there’s some nonsense with pregnancy tests, and the movie ends.
I complained in my recent review of Money Monster that George Clooney and Julia Roberts were on-screen together for about one minute. In The Meddler Susan Sarandon and J. K. Simmons are on-screen together for maybe five minutes out of the 100 minutes of running time. Movies who waste their stars deserve to fail. The story in The Meddler should have been about Susan Sarandon and J. K. Simmons. Instead, we don’t get story, we get incidents: Sarandon gets into a car accident, Sarandon gets her car stolen, Sarandon eats some marijuana. Incidents are not stories. The actual story in this movie is five minutes long, the rest is filler. GRADE: C
Total agreement.
Patti, I’m a big Sarandon fan but they don’t give her much to do in THE MEDDLER.
Enjoyed your review. This is only tangentially related, but I wanted to share it, and you may find it more interesting than the film itself.
I’ve been dating a lively, intelligent and totally hot woman named Mary who happens to be blind and we went to se THE MEDDLER. The theater said the movie came with audio description so she could follow it. We picked up the unit at theater “Guest Services” but when the movie started, the unit didn’t work. So I ran it out to Guest Services again and the woman there calmly assured me that the movie hadn’t started yet!
I’m afraid I began to get a bit impatient, but calmed myself while she called for a manager to assist. Minutes passed, the manager didn’t show, so an assistant walked me back to the theater to see if the unit would mysteriously start working. When it didn’t I asked Mary if she wanted to go, but she was getting enough out of just listening to it so we settled in to watch it with me giving occasional updates–though newer movies change scenes so often & quickly it’s hard to keep up. Still, we both enjoyed it as much as we could.
Anyway, a few minutes later the assistant came back to give us 2 free passes to another show… so presumably Mary will be able to not-watch another movie there. But the capper –now get this, I’m not making this up— You ready? Okay….
The capper was when he came back in to tell us they would turn the sound up to help her!
For years Mary has been telling me that people were stupid, and I always maintained that they were just ignorant. But now I see she was right.
Dan, this goes down as one of the more absurd movie experiences I’ve heard about. “We’ll turn up the sound.” Classic!
What a shame – I would love to see Sarandon and Simmons properly on screen, they are terrific actors – darn, what a waste!
Sergio, it’s frustrating to see movie stars misused. First it was George Clooney and Julia Roberts in MONEY MONSTER and now it’s Sarandon and Simmons in THE MEDDLER. It’s just a shame to waste the talents of these actors.
Dan, I would say that is unbelievable but, sadly, I know it is not.
George, nice review. It sounds horrible. Never heard of it before but you can be sure I will be avoiding it at all cost. I did see SEEKING A FRIEND… which, while not exactly satisfying, did have enough going on to hold my interest.
Somewhat OT: I’ve about had my fill of Susan Sarandon these days so wouldn’t have paid a cent to see her.
Jeff, I’m frustrated by directors who don’t give movie stars something meaningful to do in their movies. Or, like in MONEY MONSTER, keep Clooney and Roberts separated except for ONE MINUTE when they’re on-screen together. Really bad movie-making!
Dan, what a sad experience. Jeff, I agree about too much Sarandon, but mine comes from the vintage Tonight shows I’ve been watching. There’s been also a lot of Burt Reynolds and Jonathan Winters, but those I don’t mind.
This will be a netflix for me, one which will languish at the bottom of the over 400 films and shows in my queue.
Of course, if the actor doesn’t like the script they could always turn it, and the money, down.
Rick, there aren’t many roles for women in the 70+ age range. Many actresses just take what they can get at that point in their careers.
George, I’m with you on Sarandon. I’d watch any of her films.
Prashant, I think you would enjoy THE MEDDLER. But it’s annoying to see her talent wasted.