You’ll want to be in market for these ‘Ex-Husbands’
Pity the lovelorn men of the family Pearce, none of whom has had enduring success with amour. Yet, patriarch Peter (Griffin Dunne) remains steadfast in his belief that every butt has a seat. Sure, his wife of 35 years, Maria (Rosanna Arquette), is pressuring him to sign the divorce papers, but he holds out hope that an 11th-hour reconciliation is in the cards. This despite Maria’s reminders that breaking up isn’t a shared activity.
Peter’s eldest son, Nick (James Norton), needs no reminding of that fact, as he and his soon-to-be ex-fiancee, Thea (Rachel Zeiger-Haag), are calling it quits before they get started. Then there’s Peter’s Pops, Simon (Richard Benjamin). He’s ready to declare his independence from his decades-long marriage and re-enter the dating pool at the spry young age of 87. Last but not least is Peter’s other son, Mickey (Miles Heizer). He recently came out but has yet to find a suitable partner, albeit not from a lack of trying.
Welcome to the world of “Ex-Husbands,” writer-director Noah Pritzker’s somewhat cynical take on modern romance, a state of play in which relationships are as easily soiled and disposed of as a baby’s diaper. That’s assuming, of course, there are any infants left to change, seeing as how birth rates in the United States are plummeting. Is happily ever after even a thing anymore, as we become less and less monogamous? Peter would like to know.
The struggling dentist longs for a return to the days of mating for life, but all he detects is a preponderance of emotional drift and dwindling connections. Not to mention a vast shakeup in gender roles. Like a lot of us baby boomers, he’s struggling to make sense of it all. But since when has love made sense?
This is the stage Pritzker sets for a scenario in which Peter and his two sons are about to get a crash course in what it means to be a man in the 21st century. The setting for this schooling could not be more picturesque than the white, sandy beaches of Mexico, where Peter, Nick and Mickey are headed for an eventful weekend in which secrets are revealed and Peter will be drawn to yet another unavailable woman.
The occasion is Nick’s bachelor party. Peter wasn’t invited, but given a set of remarkable coincidences, Nick, Mickey and their pals just so happen to be headed to the same city, Tulum, on the same flight as Peter. What are the odds? It won’t be the last glaring contrivance Pritzker introduces, but he has to find some way for Pete and his boys to unexpectedly bond while dealing with their individual turmoil.
They’re a long way from their New York homes, which helps level the playing field seeing as they’re all strangers in a strange land. But no one seems in the mood for a fiesta. Melancholy rules the day – as do SSRI drugs – and not even the beautiful babes on the beach can spark a smile, although Peter finds brief respite with a sexy Stanford professor in Eisa Davis’ Eileen Link. Might she be Peter’s missing Link?
Their fling sings for as long as it lasts. But this isn’t that type of love story. No, deep down, “Ex-Husbands,” is about a father’s love for his children and vice versa. Back home, everything is perfunctory and transactional. Here, they’re just fellow bros, all seeking to uncover the roots of their chronic ennui. Are they each other’s cure?
Pritzker would like to think so. And he makes a convincing argument that no romance can match the depth of love and devotion between fathers and sons. The Pearces are one screwed-up bunch, but Pritzker aims for us to covet their unspoke but loving allegiance. He succeeds. Despite witnessing all the anguish they endure, you’d switch places with any one of them in a second.
Pritzker hints at his objective early on via a flashback to six years earlier, as Maria, Peter and his parents sit together in a movie theater awaiting the start of Hirokazu Koreeda’s marvelous “After the Storm,” a similar tale of a divorced dad desperate for things to return to the way they were before the split. Here, as there, the lonely dad is afflicted with numerous blind spots, not to mention a lack of self-awareness. But also a willingness to learn and understand.
Like Hiroshi Abe in “After the Storm,” Dunne deftly creates a lovable, hapless everyman you cannot help connecting with, despite his glaring faults. We don’t see enough of Dunne, who’s spent much of his career as a director. Here, he reminds us of what a terrific actor he can be, perhaps summoning his best work since he last teamed with Arquette in Martin Scorsese’s overlooked gem, “After Hours.”
They’re not quite Tracy and Hepburn or even Hanks and Ryan, but Dunne and Arquette do generate a distinctive vibe. As a couple, even one on the rocks, they are dynamic. But the chemistry is even stronger between Dunne, Norton and Heizer. By the time we reach the film’s touching finale, you’re left craving even more of them and their ability to render their forlorn characters endearing. More than their failures at love, and underachievements in life, these Pearces possess what’s essential to flourish – each other.
Movie review
Ex-Husbands
Rated: Not rated
Cast: Griffin Dunne, Richard Benjamin, Rosanna Arquette, James Norton and Miles Heizer
Director: Noah Pritzker
Writer: Noah Pritzker
Runtime: 99 minutes
Where: In theaters (limited), expands Feb. 28
Grade: B
