Something's Gotta Give

This is a very old-fashioned romantic comedy. Writer/director Nancy Meyers's movie is solidly constructed, which is both good and bad. Meyers is a little too mistrustful of her audience. Just in case we might miss something, Erica wears a lot of white and Harry wears a lot of black and when they go walking on the beach, Erica picks up only the white stones until Harry gives her a black one. They wear each other's glasses. We get it, we get it, they are learning to see through each other's eyes.

And though there are plenty of laughs, in at least two scenes where the audience wants and deserves to hear the conversation between the characters, Meyers cheats us by playing a song instead of giving us any dialogue. The movie is overly plotted and too long but still manages to leave us feeling that we did not find out enough about Marin, Julian, and Erica's sister (Frances McDormand). But this is Keaton's best performance since Annie Hall, very smart, wickedly wise, and extremely funny. Nicholson holds nothing back and clearly has a lot of fun spoofing his own reputation. Reeves is sweet, sincere, and sexy, Peet brings a great deal to an under-written character, and McDormand is so good that you will wish for another movie just about her character.