DVD Review: The Meddler
Wednesday, September 7, 2016 at 12:40PM By Chris Feil
Earlier this year, Lorene Scafaria's The Meddler sadly came and went quietly before summer kicked (and punched and brooded) into high gear. Unlike Susan Sarandon's needling mother at its center, the film is laidback and unimposing, the kind of lovely simple comedy we beg for more of and too often ignore once it arrives. Now on DVD, the film is a gem that you'll need to catch up with...
The Meddler stars Sarandon as a widowed California mother trying all the wrong ways to stay connected to her distanced daughter Lori (Rose Byrne). When one of Lori's writing projects heads to New York to film a pilot, Sarandon's Marnie is left to fill the void with Lori's friends and a few new acquaintances, played by a bursting cast including J.K. Simmons, Casey Wilson, and Michael McKean - as much as the film is Sarandon's showcase, she is surrounded by a delightful supporting cast.
However, Sarandon's performance as the widowed Marnie is much more intelligently modulated than you might expect from a character that initially comes off as familiar....
Marnie is far more believable for the way the actress underplays her more absurd behavior, such as paying for the wedding of a basic stranger or befriending an Apple store clerk. Her extreme extroversion is an obvious coping mechanism, but Sarandon avoids sappy melodrama by guarding Marnie's pain at all costs. Her lighthearted zeal for life is precisely the thing that she uses to mask her pathos and the actress is as protective of it as the character.
If all this sounds darker than expected, rest assured that her performance is light on its feet and relentlessly funny. By my estimate, she delivers the punchline of the year in a third act airport scene.
The film's relaxed pace and simmering laughs make for a deceptively insightful character study. Where weaker (and meaner) comedies turn a character like Marnie into the butt of the joke, The Meddler is patient and intrigued with her. Lorene Scafaria makes a sizable step forward as both writer and director, delivering a film both personal and loaded with nuanced delights. There is nary a moment that Scafaria sacrifices honesty for broader laughs or organic feeling for cheap emotion.
What The Meddler lacks in bravado, it makes up for with confidence and understated joy. It's a relief to see a comedy with the smarts to earn its laughs through measured emotional insight. As the film shows, your warm fuzzies need not be diluted by lack of complexity.
Grade: B+
MVP: Susan Sarandon, obviously. (Though there is a great music cue for Dolly Parton's "Here You Come Again" that's both funny and adorable.)
Oscar Chances: Probably unlikely, but maybe Sarandon could make it into the Golden Globes Comedy race.
Reader Comments (15)
Lorene Scafaria is a real talent. "The Meddler" was a very funny film with some sharp moments thanks to Susan Sarandon & whole cast.
Scafaria is under the radar for such a good writer/director, clearly able to attract first rate talent to any project she does.
Give this a look if for some pure pleasure.
*Sarandon...
Chris Feil: Yes, mediocre to BAD mean comedies turn characters like this into empty, stupid joke fodder (e.g. Bad Moms), there is a place for mean comedies.
LadyEdith: I've not kept you up on that project. I'm at four finished with the fifth started. (I have scrupulously kept it pretty tightly in the "Warner Bros. could theoretically do this" sphere. For example? Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street (characterization hews somewhat closer to somewhere around the 3rd-6th films, where he was much more joke happy than the first couple), Coop and Kiva from Megas XLR and a loose version of Bloo from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (Note: In the Something Grim universe, Foster's Home aired (with the same writing and animation style, but different voice performances) from 1989-1994 (actual show 2004-2009) and was basically Saturday Morning Watchmen) also have small-medium sized supporting roles and there's a major in-continuity reference to Etrigan from DC Comics. Yeah, I know. Slotting that stuff next to each other is...weird, but I think it's working.)
I really need a Diane Keaton' Something Gotta Give level performance. I really like whrn women past their fifties have fun with amazing performances. I have Grandma, Hello My Name Is Doris and this one under my radar. Is there another movie I should include in this list.
Volvagia - glad to hear things are going well. (my twitter handle is @BohoLadyEdith if you ever want to find me)
Nathaniel - Sorry for the off topic stuff .
Nadir - I think Sarandon's performance is up to the standard of Keaton's - easily. I hope Sarandon get's some GGlobe attention - she deserves it.
I LOVED The Meddler. Susan Sarandon is marvelous!
Sarandon and the movie are very good, as is Rose Byrne. Especially nice performance from JK Simmons as someone with normal blood pressure.
I went to see The Meddler because of you guys mentioning it here and thanks so much for that, absolutely loved it. Sarandon and Byrne were both so great in it.
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