Monday, June 19, 2006
The Groomsmen (2006)
Director: Edward Burns
Should you see it? If you liked Edward Burns’ other films you’ll like this one.
First on a personal note: If our CBA group never left Lincroft, bought houses near each other and started families, this film would be our lives. The Groomsmen is the most New Jersey film I’ve seen since Garden State, and Clerks before that, (even though it is set in Staten Island).
The drama is basically about 5 tough-guy male friend trying to adjust to the feel of their new relationship dynamic now that their central member, Paulie, is about to have a child and is therefore getting married. It is about how each character reflects on his own life as they take another step forward together deeper into adulthood and further away from their adolescences. Burns depicts wonderfully how when they are together these characters’ adolescence is never far in the past - even as they have one foot in their adulthood with wives and children, their high school lives reemerge as they drink beer with the guys with whom they have always drank beer. (And again, I know exactly what Burns is trying to portray because I live it myself, albeit for 3 weeks a year rather than year round. And Burns portrays it well.)
The film follows a few central tensions caused by Paulie’s impending wedding.
1. The contentious return of a high school buddy who inexplicedly left town and never communicated with any one for eight years. (It turns out he’s gay and his father couldn’t handle it.)
2. Paulie’s older brother is over the edge, deep into a weeks long drinking binge in which he is neglecting his wife and is over the line criticizing his brother’s marriage. It turns out he discovered he cannot have kids and feels less a man, especially since his younger brother has a kid on the way, and he is fearful his wife will leave him when she knows. Instead of expressing any vulnerability he has become a drunk.
3. And of course there is Paulie’s internal struggle with his impending marriage and family. He temporarily regresses into high-school-like hanging out and drinking with the buddies before coming around to his new adulthood.
I am surprised how much I like Burns’ films, especially the ones like The Groomsmen that are so overtly masculine and tough guy centric. I attribute this success to his dealing mainly in character and his being able to depict the complexity of relationships between guys who would never use the word relationship to describe their bond.
Should you see it? If you liked Edward Burns’ other films you’ll like this one.
First on a personal note: If our CBA group never left Lincroft, bought houses near each other and started families, this film would be our lives. The Groomsmen is the most New Jersey film I’ve seen since Garden State, and Clerks before that, (even though it is set in Staten Island).
The drama is basically about 5 tough-guy male friend trying to adjust to the feel of their new relationship dynamic now that their central member, Paulie, is about to have a child and is therefore getting married. It is about how each character reflects on his own life as they take another step forward together deeper into adulthood and further away from their adolescences. Burns depicts wonderfully how when they are together these characters’ adolescence is never far in the past - even as they have one foot in their adulthood with wives and children, their high school lives reemerge as they drink beer with the guys with whom they have always drank beer. (And again, I know exactly what Burns is trying to portray because I live it myself, albeit for 3 weeks a year rather than year round. And Burns portrays it well.)
The film follows a few central tensions caused by Paulie’s impending wedding.
1. The contentious return of a high school buddy who inexplicedly left town and never communicated with any one for eight years. (It turns out he’s gay and his father couldn’t handle it.)
2. Paulie’s older brother is over the edge, deep into a weeks long drinking binge in which he is neglecting his wife and is over the line criticizing his brother’s marriage. It turns out he discovered he cannot have kids and feels less a man, especially since his younger brother has a kid on the way, and he is fearful his wife will leave him when she knows. Instead of expressing any vulnerability he has become a drunk.
3. And of course there is Paulie’s internal struggle with his impending marriage and family. He temporarily regresses into high-school-like hanging out and drinking with the buddies before coming around to his new adulthood.
I am surprised how much I like Burns’ films, especially the ones like The Groomsmen that are so overtly masculine and tough guy centric. I attribute this success to his dealing mainly in character and his being able to depict the complexity of relationships between guys who would never use the word relationship to describe their bond.
