After you get through the number of production companies and studios involved in the making of this film that equals the number of Meryl's Oscar nominations to date, you get to the gold of what most couples who have been married for 30 years sealed. She wants to sneak into her husband's bedroom to spend the night with him, but he claims to be feeling poorly, and barely even acknowledges the fact that she's making his favorite, prime rib, for dinner or the next day. Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones from the very moment this film begins aren't acting. They really are these characters (one fried egg, one piece of bacon for breakfast every morning) and it's hysterical to watch the situation unfold. Streep desperately wants to fix her marriage, but how will Jones react to her wanting to go get counseling?
A marital kiss is more than a peck on the cheek before the old man leaves for work every morning, and that's what Streep wants her husband to figure out. She becomes convinced that esteemed marital counselor Steve Carrell and a week long session will fix it all. Jones surprises her by showing up, not happy,but it's obvious that this grumpy old man will find some spring in his step. I gotta give Meryl's character credit for not heading to an attorney in preparation for divorce court. When they get to the quaint main town where Carrell's office is, it doesn't take long for Jones to wakeup to show Streep some affection, but discussions of sex become hysterically uncomfortable, both for the couple and for the audience who is laughing out of their own discomfort, as if envisioning a similar conversation with their parents.
I give the actors credit for doing those scenes without blushing or laughing because their uncomfortability (or at least the characters), and when they are alone attempting to have a "sexercise", I found myself both blushing and laughing at the same time. Perhaps it's because you don't expect is mature actors to actually even be thinking about things like this, and that's what makes the script very amusing. The attempts at intimacy are very funny because of the awkwardness and I'm sure a lot of people related to how the characters were feeling. There's nothing tasteless in the way those scenes are presented because it's more about the insinuation rather than what happens or doesn't happen. It's obvious how this is going to turn out, but at least it's done in a pleasant manner rather than a crude one or showing the characters beginning to hate each other. The love is real. They just needs to re-discover it.
A marital kiss is more than a peck on the cheek before the old man leaves for work every morning, and that's what Streep wants her husband to figure out. She becomes convinced that esteemed marital counselor Steve Carrell and a week long session will fix it all. Jones surprises her by showing up, not happy,but it's obvious that this grumpy old man will find some spring in his step. I gotta give Meryl's character credit for not heading to an attorney in preparation for divorce court. When they get to the quaint main town where Carrell's office is, it doesn't take long for Jones to wakeup to show Streep some affection, but discussions of sex become hysterically uncomfortable, both for the couple and for the audience who is laughing out of their own discomfort, as if envisioning a similar conversation with their parents.
I give the actors credit for doing those scenes without blushing or laughing because their uncomfortability (or at least the characters), and when they are alone attempting to have a "sexercise", I found myself both blushing and laughing at the same time. Perhaps it's because you don't expect is mature actors to actually even be thinking about things like this, and that's what makes the script very amusing. The attempts at intimacy are very funny because of the awkwardness and I'm sure a lot of people related to how the characters were feeling. There's nothing tasteless in the way those scenes are presented because it's more about the insinuation rather than what happens or doesn't happen. It's obvious how this is going to turn out, but at least it's done in a pleasant manner rather than a crude one or showing the characters beginning to hate each other. The love is real. They just needs to re-discover it.