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Reviews132
chiltonsjillfreeport's rating
(7.5, rounded up)
Newlyweds is a tale of trashed boundaries, intertwined sloppiness, romantic yearning and object lessons among two couples, assorted relatives and exes in NYC, specifically Tribeca.
Buzzy (writer/director Ed Burns and Katie (Caitlyn FitzGerald) are newlyweds who learned from chaotic first marriages. They own small businesses and are more sunny and self-aware than their sisters, Buzzy's feral little sister Linda (Kerry Bishé), and Katie's bitter older sis Marsha (Marsha Dietlein).
Buzzy trains Marsha's husband Max at his gym. Sort of.; mainly Max comes to gripe about his wife and bemoan the sex he's not getting.
Max idolizes Buzzy, a fit, funny, guy's guy who curses warmly, and, unlike Max, has an even-keeled, gorgeous spouse who appreciates him.
Linda's drop-in from LA becomes the wrench in Katie and Buzzy's gears. Within 48 hours, Linda's passive-aggressive houseguest-from-hell havoc has Katie's teeth on edge and Buzzy backpedaling like a stranger in his own marriage.
Marsha, meanwhile, projects her misery on the stressed newlyweds and Buzzy in particular, who symbolizes all lying, doggish men in her eyes.
Linda chases down another newlywed: her ex Miles, whose weeks-old marriage she's flown in to destroy. Drunk, narcissistic and grabby...she's the younger, female mirror of Katie's actor ex Dara, another vain and irresponsible fantasist.
Meet your ghost of Christmas future, kid.
Marsha is threatened by Buzzy-who stole her sister, and dares to be cheerful. Linda envies Katie, who not only has her life together but can't be trumped on looks or style...oh, the humanity.
Whose denial about their obnoxious sister is deeper? Buzzy defends Linda with a distant oldest's guilt; Katie defends 'good person' Marsha with fierce, if myopic, devotion. Maybe hot loyalty about their sisters doth protest too much?
Which newlywed gets unrealistic first? Katie for insisting Buzzy tell her *absolutely everything*, down to Max's confidences and Linda's indiscretions...omitting what she holds back.
Or Buzzy, who chides Katie with a parallel about the 'anything goes' attitude of guy friends...the difference being, Katie and Linda are in-law strangers, not friends. Case in point, 'paranoid' Katie doesn't even try to tell Buzzy how rude and hostile Linda is when the two of them are alone.
Linda can apologize to Miles, but not Katie. Marsha treats Buzzy like riffraff, though he's gentleman enough to ignore her barrage of insults.
Kettles, meet pots. Everyone in Newlyweds has an object lesson, a nemesis and maybe even the inspiration they need, viewed in the right light.
I won't spoil the funny lines and fine messes of Newlyweds. The writing feels fresh and natural, the characters are just screwball enough, and I really wish Ed Burns had given us a sequel.
Newlyweds is a tale of trashed boundaries, intertwined sloppiness, romantic yearning and object lessons among two couples, assorted relatives and exes in NYC, specifically Tribeca.
Buzzy (writer/director Ed Burns and Katie (Caitlyn FitzGerald) are newlyweds who learned from chaotic first marriages. They own small businesses and are more sunny and self-aware than their sisters, Buzzy's feral little sister Linda (Kerry Bishé), and Katie's bitter older sis Marsha (Marsha Dietlein).
Buzzy trains Marsha's husband Max at his gym. Sort of.; mainly Max comes to gripe about his wife and bemoan the sex he's not getting.
Max idolizes Buzzy, a fit, funny, guy's guy who curses warmly, and, unlike Max, has an even-keeled, gorgeous spouse who appreciates him.
Linda's drop-in from LA becomes the wrench in Katie and Buzzy's gears. Within 48 hours, Linda's passive-aggressive houseguest-from-hell havoc has Katie's teeth on edge and Buzzy backpedaling like a stranger in his own marriage.
Marsha, meanwhile, projects her misery on the stressed newlyweds and Buzzy in particular, who symbolizes all lying, doggish men in her eyes.
Linda chases down another newlywed: her ex Miles, whose weeks-old marriage she's flown in to destroy. Drunk, narcissistic and grabby...she's the younger, female mirror of Katie's actor ex Dara, another vain and irresponsible fantasist.
Meet your ghost of Christmas future, kid.
Marsha is threatened by Buzzy-who stole her sister, and dares to be cheerful. Linda envies Katie, who not only has her life together but can't be trumped on looks or style...oh, the humanity.
Whose denial about their obnoxious sister is deeper? Buzzy defends Linda with a distant oldest's guilt; Katie defends 'good person' Marsha with fierce, if myopic, devotion. Maybe hot loyalty about their sisters doth protest too much?
Which newlywed gets unrealistic first? Katie for insisting Buzzy tell her *absolutely everything*, down to Max's confidences and Linda's indiscretions...omitting what she holds back.
Or Buzzy, who chides Katie with a parallel about the 'anything goes' attitude of guy friends...the difference being, Katie and Linda are in-law strangers, not friends. Case in point, 'paranoid' Katie doesn't even try to tell Buzzy how rude and hostile Linda is when the two of them are alone.
Linda can apologize to Miles, but not Katie. Marsha treats Buzzy like riffraff, though he's gentleman enough to ignore her barrage of insults.
Kettles, meet pots. Everyone in Newlyweds has an object lesson, a nemesis and maybe even the inspiration they need, viewed in the right light.
I won't spoil the funny lines and fine messes of Newlyweds. The writing feels fresh and natural, the characters are just screwball enough, and I really wish Ed Burns had given us a sequel.
My two consistent complaints about Edward Burns films are floppy writing and painful acting.
Burns can be good on a shoestring budget; no mean feat. But he's also written plenty of dialogue and roles that sound like just that (made-up, versus real people talking). As a director, his films are dotted with underwhelming performances.
Purple Violets is long on iffy acting from well-known actors; scenes where they mix it up are a real slog. I suspect even Ed Burns would admit it's a bad sign when his acting outshines his cast's.
Did I buy Patrick Wilson as a pulpy-ish writer with literary ambitions? Not at all. He spun a writerly self-doubt into greying out his character.
The hard part is Wilson was much better than Selma Blair (especially), Elizabeth Reaser and Donal Logue. Burns certainly shares the blame: Reaser plays a headachey, shrieking caricature, Logue's chef is needlessly British...who can say why, given a small role/his spotty, vague accent.
Blair did so much puffy-eyed shrugging, hand-waving and fidgeting I wanted to stop some scenes for her. Her disdain for her husband (the one strong feeling she conveyed), disappears when it makes the least sense for the plot. Et tu, Ed?
Mostly, I just didn't believe these people. Even the great Dennis Farina is wasted as Blair's bullying, sexist boss...who, inexplicably,, doesn't fire her.
In a lesser crime (though, could the money have been better spent on more takes?), even the music was so abysmal and overwrought I craved silence.
Four stars largely for Burns's 'Murph,' some lovely Hamptons shots and a solid Debra Messing.
Burns can be good on a shoestring budget; no mean feat. But he's also written plenty of dialogue and roles that sound like just that (made-up, versus real people talking). As a director, his films are dotted with underwhelming performances.
Purple Violets is long on iffy acting from well-known actors; scenes where they mix it up are a real slog. I suspect even Ed Burns would admit it's a bad sign when his acting outshines his cast's.
Did I buy Patrick Wilson as a pulpy-ish writer with literary ambitions? Not at all. He spun a writerly self-doubt into greying out his character.
The hard part is Wilson was much better than Selma Blair (especially), Elizabeth Reaser and Donal Logue. Burns certainly shares the blame: Reaser plays a headachey, shrieking caricature, Logue's chef is needlessly British...who can say why, given a small role/his spotty, vague accent.
Blair did so much puffy-eyed shrugging, hand-waving and fidgeting I wanted to stop some scenes for her. Her disdain for her husband (the one strong feeling she conveyed), disappears when it makes the least sense for the plot. Et tu, Ed?
Mostly, I just didn't believe these people. Even the great Dennis Farina is wasted as Blair's bullying, sexist boss...who, inexplicably,, doesn't fire her.
In a lesser crime (though, could the money have been better spent on more takes?), even the music was so abysmal and overwrought I craved silence.
Four stars largely for Burns's 'Murph,' some lovely Hamptons shots and a solid Debra Messing.
