Jamie, the heroine of “Easy,” is a 25-year-old woman who indiscriminately sleeps around with men and wonders why she has never known a stable relationship.
Oh, this is going to be a long movie.
Having an irritating character at the center of a film is not necessarily a bad thing, but when the picture is ineptly rendered, things really drag. “Easy” has the virtue of an appealing young actress in the irritating role, but this is not enough to save it.
Jamie, played by Marguerite Moreau, is a “product namer.” She gives cute names to new items. Well, somebody’s got to do it.
Because of her superficial experiences with men, Jamie is about to swear off the male sex. Just then, her old writing teacher (Naveen Andrews) moves back to town, and they begin a torrid affair.
He’s a self-obsessed poet with long hair and he can’t stop talking about his ex-girlfriend. Despite all these warning signs, Jamie is shocked when the ex returns to the picture.
Meanwhile, she strikes up a friendship with an Irishman (Brian F. O’Byrne) who seems to be the host of a comedy-talk show. Although he does a TV show every day, he has a lot of time to hang out with Jamie and be her platonic buddy.
He doesn’t want to be platonic, of course, but Jamie has newly made a pledge of celibacy. She’s sworn off men for a while, and her very patient suitor will just have to wait.
The forced sitcom nature of that situation fits with the rest of the movie. But it isn’t the film’s ideas or characters that are the main problem; after all, romantic troubles will always be familiar turf, but some love stories are great and others are grueling.
The reason this one’s grueling is the lack of timing and tone. Writer-director Jane Weinstock doesn’t get the little moments right – the rhythms of flirting, the transitions from one mood to another. If you don’t get the little moments, nothing else feels right, either. The sex scenes, which have healthy nudity and a certain bluntness, at least aren’t coy.
O’Byrne is an oddly-shaped but likable actor, and Andrews (currently the mysterious Sayid on the TV show “Lost”) does his best to simmer. As for Marguerite Moreau (“Life as We Know It”), she may be a talented actress, but it will have to be proved somewhere else.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
