Mirabelle (Claire Danes) and Jeremy (Jason Swartzman) are both in their mid-twenties. Ray (Steve Martin) is in his 50s. A weird Mirabelle love triangle develops. Mirabelle has nothing in common with Jeremy, and she's way too young for Ray, but he is also the man of her "dreams," in terms of a man who has the means and the experience she's looking for to make her feel seen and important.
I think we're supposed to feel uncomfortable about the age difference. Ray even comments at the first date that he hopes she has a good relationship with her father, so he's uncomfortable by the age difference. too.
Ray's house is immaculately clean. And sterile. It feels empty and unlived in. When he gives Mirabelle the tour, everything is in its place. He saves the bedroom for last. He steps out to "turn off the phones," and when he returns, she's undressed and lying face down on the bed. He moves his hand down her the curve of her side while the movie's romantic soundtrack plays. From her point of view, we gather that THIS is what she's been waiting for. He's a "symbolic magician" by trade, and this is the magic that she thought would happen to her, why she left Vermont for L.A. in the first place.
But the next morning, he immediately bursts her bubble. He's not her Prince Charming, or at least, he tells her, he doesn't want her to expect much more than being disappointed. He says he's not into commitment, and that he would like them to keep their "options open." It's easy for him to say. He's got options. She's a shopgirl at Saks, and if he's not "the One," then the guys she will likely date are more like Jeremy -- immature men who might be sincere, but who are socially irresponsible and, at best, awkward. The look on Mirabelle's face, however, when Ray gives her "the speech" says it all. She wants so badly to be Cinderella but Ray is not playing his part. He was supposed to be her Prince Charming.
And actually, the following day, when she meets with her friends, she has found a way to "hear" what she wanted to hear. So maybe she has ignored the main message in Ray's speech after all. As Ray tells his therapist at that some moment, I was clear with her. I basically told her that I just want to sleep with her when I'm in town. In his mind, he's attracted to her beauty and youth, but he also knows he's too old for her, and probably more than that, he's simply a man. A man who does not want to be tied down to anything. He's completely content with his life. He needs something from Mirabelle, but that need is just occasional sex. Mirabelle needs the human contact, too, which is why she will even entertain dating Jeremy in the first place, but she would seemingly want more than just sex.
As their relationship develops. Ray still thinks he's set the expectations, but he doesn't realize what's started. She's decided to go off her anti-depressants, and he's there for her when she starts to spiral into depression. His second house is in Seattle, but he feels compelled one night just to fly down to see her. She has started drawing more, and he has suggested that she stash some of her stuff at his L.A. house...
But in Seattle, we get to see his "other life." A woman there invites him to dinner. They apparently have an "open relationship," too, but she quizzes him, "Are you in love with her?" she asks. It's clear that he is, but this other woman probably finds that amusing rather than threatening, and she offers herself to Ray. He can just lie there, and she will "slip out" after it's over. It's an offer than a man like Ray can't confuse, but when morning comes, she's still in his bed. She didn't just "slip out." He looks at her lying in his bed as he gets dressed and walks out of the bedroom. He doesn't make a scene or ask her to live, but just in that action, you get the sense of "Why did I let that happen?" He's been honest with Mirabelle about wanting an open relationship, but this scene maybe the first to suggest to that he realizes he's living in a fantasy, too. He can't have "everything" and be happy about it. He will need to make a choice.
His choice is to tell Mirabelle that he slept with this other woman. As expected, she doesn't take the news well. Ray's rationale seems to be that he "thought it would be okay," while knowing that it wasn't. Basically, he WANTED it to be okay, but when he discovers it wasn't, that does mean he will change, and will she let him? They had planned to go to New York together, but now Mirabelle instead retreats back to Vermont to visit her parents. They don't ask her why she's there, don't say much at all, and the silence is probably uncomfortable enough for Mirabelle that when Ray tracks down her parents' number and invites her to go to New York, she goes.
Meanwhile, this whole time Jeremy has been traveling as a roadie with a band. He's been listening to meditation and yoga, supposedly becoming a better person. As far as we know, roadie or not, he has not been sleeping with groupies. And when he returns to L.A., he's freshly shaven and immaculately dressed. He's a new person, or so it would seem, but at the drop of the hat, he leaves Mirabelle at the gallery as soon as her blonde coworker mistakenly takes him for Ray and shows interest in him.
The story is frustrating, because we've been led to believe that Jeremy has changed over the months. Likewise, we've been led to believe that Ray has changed, and that he now understands how important Mirabelle is to him. Sadly, neither Jeremy or Ray have changed, and neither appreciate what they had with a woman who would, potentially, be interested in either. She's not picky. All she wants, really, is a man she can call "sweetheart' and who will see, love, and value her. It shouldn't be too much to ask.
I find the ending a little unsatisfying for a couple of reasons. First, it's fine if Jeremy and Mirabelle end up together, but it's not clear to me that they are a great match. Maybe they're not supposed to be. In a fairy tale, I want them to be a great match, and I want him to be a guy that won't abandon her simply because a blonde mistakes him for Ray Porter -- the sequence in the film is funny, but as an editor, I would have cut it, I think.
The ending is satisfying for Ray's line: "I did love you." Not once was he able to tell her or admit to himself that he loved her, but now that it's irreversibly over, he felt the loss. I'm still not sure why he didn't feel it fully the first time. He got the second chance and still effed it up.
And a final small point: Steve Martin is both a character in the film AND the film's narrator, who is not supposed to be Ray Porter. I'm not sure that works. To me, he should be one or the other. I had my thoughts about the film having a narrator at all... but I think I'm okay with that, but ultimately, if he's going to play the part of Ray Porter, then have someone else be the narrator.
This story seems to be highly biographical too. Steve Martin can smile and have the crinkle smile eyes AND somehow still be sad, melancholy and frowning. I have a feeling he's able to be Ray Porter so easily because he's been Ray Porter in real life.
Not quite perfect a perfect movie, but the flaws are minor.
Rating: 4.5/5
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