"This is a movie that takes a long a look at marriage - how it can get derailed, but also how it joins people together. It's a slow-moving but often comedic look at four people and how their lives intersect."
Richard (Pierce Brosnan) narrates this study of human behavior and marriage in this story of how people relate to each other. Richard has never been married and likens it to something like "the flu or chicken pox." He adores his friends Pat (Patricia Clarkson) and Harry (Chris Cooper) who seem to have the perfect marriage, until Harry informs him he is planning on leaving Pat for Kay (Rachel McAdams). This news shocks Richard, however when he meets Kay he decides she is the woman for him and sets out to derail the relationship between his best friend and the woman of his dreams. While Richard is courting Kay he discovers some secrets about Pat.
Being the sole person out of the four that knows exactly what's going on gives him the power to manipulate everyone to his liking. And of course his desire is for Pat and Harry to stay together so he can have Kay to himself. It's interesting to see how he plays the people to fit his agenda.
This story is set in the 1940s and has the feel of life at that time. Things were simpler then, however not for these particular people. Pierce Brosnan explains that "Harry and Pat are Richard's only true friends - they really know him. And if Harry goes off with Kay, and breaks up his marriage, Richard loses everything - he loses the girl, he loses his friends, he's the odd man out twice over." So the heart of the story is not the marriage between his two best friends, it is Richard, the narrator and later the puppet master.
With Harry planning on leaving Pat for Kay and Richard secretly wooing Kay for himself, there is some fun in this often dramatic story. It's a study of characters and a study of marriage. "Marriage is a struggle and it takes work," comments Brosnan. "You may be challenged in life when you least expect it. And this film makes you ask yourself: 'Can you do the honorable thing?'"
This is a movie that takes a long a look at marriage - how it can get derailed, but also how it joins people together. It's a slow-moving but often comedic look at these four people and how their lives intersect. The acting is excellent and audiences can really get caught up in these four lives.
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