The Meddler

Filmmaker Lorene Scafaria’s followup to the superb Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, The Meddler follows Susan Sarandon’s Marnie as she attempts to fill the void caused by her husband’s recent passing by interfering in her daughter’s (Rose Byrne’s Lori) life and career. Though it never quite reaches the highs of Scafaria’s better-than-average debut, The Meddler nevertheless establishes itself as a perpetually pleasant comedy that benefits considerably from the stellar work of its stars – with Sarandon’s completely convincing turn as a well-meaning but aggressively pushy figure standing high atop the movie’s list of positive attributes. (And while Byrne is quite good as Marnie’s long-suffering daughter, J.K. Simmons, cast as a potential love interest for Sarandon’s character, effectively steals each and every one of his all-too-few scenes.) Scafaria does a nice job of peppering The Meddler with a number of palpable truths regarding parent/child relationships, and there’s little doubt that the film, though saddled with an irresistibly universal feel, boasts a wide variety of elements that mothers and daughters, especially, will find relatable. And even though the narrative begins to run out of steam near the conclusion – ie the whole thing probably should’ve topped out at 90 minutes – The Meddler is, for the most part, a solid sophomore effort from a seriously promising writer/director.

*** out of ****