First Take: Juliet, Naked- the obligatory Nick Hornby film

SYNOPSIS:

Juliet, Naked is the story of Annie (the long-suffering girlfriend of Duncan) and her unlikely transatlantic romance with once revered, now faded, singer-songwriter, Tucker Crowe, who also happens to be the subject of Duncan’s musical obsession.

It’s always a good moment when Nick Hornby’s work hits the big screen, from his wide range of books to the scripts he has authored (including 2015′s Film of the Year, Brooklyn)- and once again, another one of his stories has arrived in cinemas. And for a change it has the stylings of a proper independent film, something which both helps and hinders the quality.

Jesse Peretz handles the direction duties, and while he does a decent job making the film run at 1 hour 37 minutes, there are some pacing issues that detract from the film, it is a solid take on the book, adapted for the screen by Evgenia Peretz, Jim Taylor and Tamara Jenkins with an OK script- some character development comes very late in the film, but that’s an issue most audiences will overlook. The music from Nathan Larson is a Ronseal job (regular readers will know what that means by now), and the cinematography by Remi Adefarasin does the job pretty damn well- it’s just the pacing issues that I have problems with, as they ultimately hit the way the narrative is portrayed- yes, it differs from the book only slightly, but it could have been handled much better.

That brings us into the performance territory. Chris O’Dowd and Rose Byrne (who was 6 months pregnant during the shooting of the film) are two very likable leads, using their roots in comedy to make the characters feel believable, and once you add Ethan Hawke’s work into the mix, the three of them are able to create some magic together, showing the strong points of the source material extremely well. The only supporting role I can really mention is Azhy Robertson’s work as Jackson, he was one of the strongest things about this entire film, and I sense big things for him ahead.

THE VERDICT

Even with a strong script, the adaptation of Hornby’s 2009 novel struggles with some minor schoolboy errors- but the performances and music save it from being in the depths of What The Hell Happened territory, which is apt because Chris O’Dowd’s character literally does an episode of it during the end credits. Not the best film on release at the minute, but still good regardless.

RATING: 3.5/5