THE OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION 1998
A film review by Timothy Voon
Copyright 1998 Timothy Voon
3 :-( :-( :-( for not getting what ya want
Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Paul Rudd, John Pankow, Timothy Daly, Amo Gulinello, Allison Janney, Alan Alda, Nigel Hawthorne Director: Nicholas Hytner Producer: Laurence Mark Screenplay: Wendy Wasserstein based on the novel by Stephen McCauley
There are some things in life that you just can't have, no matter how much you tear your heart out trying to get it. These include a good seat on Santa's Reindeer Express, meeting Uncle Walt at Disney land, happily married men in general, or getting a gay man to change his sexual orientation in order to marry you. Ladies, spare yourself the unnecessary heart-breaking, tear-jerking disappointment. Turn your eyes from the cute guy, flirting with the rugby captain in the change rooms, and find yourself a dependable, straight guy who will be home in time to help you set the dinner table. If you persist with the impossible thought, you will only end up hurting yourself badly against a brick wall.
Having said this, I have more or less revealed how this movie will end and sadly, how pointless it becomes. Jennifer Aniston is Nina Borrowski. Her flat mate, George Hanson (Paul Rudd), a first grade teacher has recently broken up with his lover, Timothy Daly. Nina and George become the best of friends (as always), before Nina becomes unexpectedly pregnant to her casual boyfriend, Vince McBride (John Pankow). When Nina doesn't want the child to be raised by Vince, but by George, strange things start happening in Brooklyn. So much so, that George not only becomes Nina's object of affection, but also her object of fixation. When George can't return her love, you can't say you didn't try to warn her!
Part of the reason why many people will not enjoy this movie, is because of the preconceived notion that this is a romantic comedy. I will be forward and spare you the heartache, there is no romance and there is very little comedy. Part of the blame lies with the marketing of this movie. The billboard poster entails Paul Rudd holding Aniston in a romantic fashion - implying they fall in love, even though this is not the case. An innocent bystander, deceived by the billboard into watching the movie, gets a rude shock when they suddenly realise that this is not your regular ‘guy meets gal' love story.
The plot is jumbled and there is so much bed hoping, that you lose track of who is whose official partner, and who gets to sleep with whom in which room. Leaving the viewer extremely confused about everybody's sexual orientation by the end of the movie. It certainly isn't as bizarre as CHASING AMY, but when Paul Rudd kisses Amo Gulinello, a lot of the women gasped with shock. Like they weren't pre-warned that guys actually kiss guys, in a movie where half the characters are gay - once again an error on the part of marketing.
If you're feeling sorry for yourself, don't mope alone. Join Jennifer Aniston and you can't both wallow together, at not being able to obtain the object of your affections.
Timothy Voon
e-mail: stirling@netlink.com.au
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