Jack & Sarah

Written and directed by Tim Sullivan, Jack & Sarah casts Richard E. Grant as Jack – an easy-going executive who receives a dose of cold reality after his wife (Imogen Stubbs’ Sarah) dies during childbirth. Though his initial impulse is to drink his troubles away, Jack eventually comes to realize that his new baby, named Sarah, is counting on him to snap out of it – which effectively forces the single parent to hire a nanny (Samantha Mathis’ Amy). Filmmaker Sullivan has infused Jack & Sarah with a leisurely-paced sensibility that proves an appropriate complement to his thoroughly low-key screenplay, and there’s little doubt that the film’s various characters, including periphery figures such as Ian McKellen’s William and Judi Dench’s Margaret, become uniformly well-rounded and intriguing as a result. It’s just as clear, however, that the narrative’s uneventful, almost episodic bent ensures that the movie is wholeheartedly compelling only in fits and starts, with the decidedly uneven atmosphere generally smoothed over by the spellbindingly charismatic work of the two leads – as both Grant and Mathis slip into the skin of their respective characters with an ease that’s nothing short of remarkable (and it certainly doesn’t hurt that the two performers share a palpable chemistry together). The inclusion of a rather needless fake break-up towards the film’s conclusion ultimately stands as Jack & Sarah‘s one overtly negative attribute, with the end result a pleasant piece of work that’s never quite as engrossing as one might’ve hoped.

**1/2 out of ****