Love the Coopers

There are some nice moments throughout Love the Coopers that hint at what the movie could have been if the filmmakers believed in this material.  This is a movie that gives us a large number of characters, all played well by fine actors, as well as a collection of connected plotlines.  But instead of really digging into these characters and their lives or problems, the movie focuses on sitcom cliches and contrivances.  Instead of honesty, this movie gives us a "reaction shot dog" who exists solely to give a silent commentary on the action, as if it understands what the characters are saying.

If there's one thing I'm tired of in movies, it's the "reaction shot dog".  It's an easy trick to get a reaction out of an audience, and it's usually a scream of desperation on the part of the director.  Here's how it works - Let's say you have a scene, as in this movie, where two characters are having a serious argument about their relationship, and where their lives have ended up.  They've been married 40 years, but are planning of splitting up.  They haven't told anyone yet.  It's Christmas Eve, and the whole family is coming to their home.  They want one last Christmas as a family before they go their separate ways.  The couple are having a heated argument.  A lot of anger and pent up resentment is being exchanged.  It's a powerful moment being delivered by two great actors, in this case Diane Keaton and John Goodman.  But, there's something off about the scene.  The movie keeps on cutting to their pet dog who is watching their argument as if it knows what they are saying.  And then, one of the characters really blows up at the other.  And what does the dog do?  It covers its face with its paws as if its embarrassed.

Does anyone still find this kind of thing funny or clever?  Is there anyone who doesn't see this as the blatant audience manipulation that it really is?  I have no doubt that dogs are smarter than most people give them credit for.  Heck, just look into a dog's eyes sometimes, and you might be surprised at how soulful they really are.  But I do not believe that they are silent commentators on our every day lives, as this movie makes them out to be.  They do not exist to give "cute" reactions whenever a camera is pointed at them, such as tilting their head in confusion when a character says something surprising.  There have been a lot of great dogs in the movies, and none of the great ones have ever just sat in the background waiting to tilt their head or cover their face on cue.  The movie even goes one step further by giving the dog the voice of Steve Martin, and letting him narrate the entire film.  Yes, the movie is ultimately told from the point of view of a "reaction shot dog".  Martin is a wonderful talent, but adding him as the voice of a dog who exists to mug for the camera is not an improvement.

Onto the human side of the plot: Keaton and Goodman play Charlotte and Sam Cooper, empty nesters who are planning one last family Christmas before they plan to separate, and Sam heads off for a long-delayed trip to Africa.  As grandparents, kids and grandkids begin to descend upon their home for the holidays, we are introduced to other members of the Cooper clan, and their various personal storylines.  Their son Hank (Ed Helms) is recently divorced, unemployed and raising three young kids on his own.  Daughter Eleanor (Olivia Wilde) is still hurt after her fiance left her for another woman, but while hanging out at a local airport, has a chance encounter with a soldier named Joe (Jake Lacy).  They strike up a friendship, and she ultimately convinces him to show up at her family home, posing as her new boyfriend.  There's a kind of sweet subplot revolving around grandpa Bucky (Alan Arkin) and the relationship he's built over the years with a young waitress (Amanda Seyfried) who works at a diner he frequents just so he can talk to her.  The moments between Arkin and Seyfried are some of the better moments in the film, and it'd kind of be nice to see a whole movie just about them.

But, we still have more of the Cooper family to meet, such as Charlotte's younger sister Emma (Marisa Tomei), who gets arrested for shoplifting while trying to find a gift for her sister.  And don't forget crazy old Aunt Fishy (June Squibb), whose mind isn't very sharp these days.  You're probably saying to yourself that's a lot of characters for a movie that runs under two hours.  You would be right.  Love the Coopers does its best to keep all these stories and characters up in the air, like a juggler adding more and more balls to his act.  And while the movie never completely fails, it does seem overstuffed.  Since the movie seems content not to focus too much on certain characters, such as single dad Ed Helms and the relationship storyline his oldest son is involved in concerning a teenage girl who works at the local mall, you wonder why they were included in the script other than padding.  There's an awful lot of filler in the script, taking our attention from the stuff that does work.

What does work is when the movie focuses solely on Goodman and Keaton, and treats their characters with intelligence.  When it takes them away from the cute dogs and even cuter kids that surround them in a lot of their scenes, they get a couple genuinely nice moments where they come across as real characters.  Of course, both are wonderful actors, and they're obviously doing their best with the material they've been given.  You get the sense that everyone at least believed in this project.  Nobody's phoning it in up on the screen, and nobody seems bored.  But there's always something strange seeing good or great actors giving it their all to material that doesn't live up to their efforts.  You almost want to work on a rewrite while you're watching it. (First change: Loose the dog.)

Love the Coopers is a fairly harmless movie that wants to put us in the Christmas spirit, but doesn't work hard enough to do so.  The actors are capable of carrying this film, but they need the script to step up its game, instead of the movie having them do all the heavy lifting.  This is a pleasant and inoffensive movie, but not much more than that.

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