Something’s Gotta Give

Directed by Nancy Meyers, Something’s Gotta Give details the tentative relationship that forms between Jack Nicholson’s womanizing Harry Sanborn and Diane Keaton’s skittish Erica Barry. Filmmaker Meyers, armed with her own screenplay, delivers a languidly-paced romance that fares best in its engaging and lighthearted first half, as the movie benefits substantially from the endlessly charming, compelling efforts of its two perfectly-matched stars – with Nicholson and Keaton’s first-class work here certainly matched by a roster of such superb periphery players as Keanu Reeves, Amanda Peet, and Frances McDormand. And although the picture boasts several memorable sequences and an assortment of laugh-out-loud funny bits and gags, Something’s Gotta Give does suffer from a distressingly erratic and padded-out midsection that ultimately wreaks havoc on its forward momentum and overall impact – with the far-from-streamlined atmosphere especially problematic once the egregiously protracted third act rolls around. It’s nevertheless clear that Something’s Gotta Give‘s emphasis on Nicholson and Keaton’s respective characters (and their genuinely compelling romance) goes a long way towards the viewer’s interest through its less-than-enthralling stretches, with the end result a decent-enough romcom that deserves credit for highlighting an older couple but would also have benefited from a much shorter running time.

**1/2 out of ****