"MY ONE AND ONLY" (2009) (Renee Zellweger, Kevin Bacon) (PG-13)
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QUICK TAKE:
Dramedy: In 1953, a New York socialite leaves her philandering husband to go on a cross-country trip with her two sons, all the while looking for her next husband.
PLOT:
In 1953, aging socialite Anne Deveraux (RENEE ZELLWEGER) comes home to her Manhattan apartment to find Dan (KEVIN BACON), her bandleader husband, cheating on her with a much younger woman. Fed up with his philandering ways, Anne decides to leave him and take her two sons, George and Robbie (LOGAN LERMAN and MARK RENDALL) on the road.
The trio stops in such cities as Boston, Pittsburgh and St. Louis. Anne remains on the hunt for her next husband, a man who will take care of them all. George laments his mother's wayward ways and wants only to return to Radford University. Robbie, a closet homosexual, dreams of making it as an actor in Hollywood.
None of the cities work out for the Deverauxs. Anne meets a string of men who turn out to be horrible choices. Among them are Harlan (CHRIS NOTH), a career military man who dislikes George and Robbie and tries to control Anne's every move; Wallace (STEVEN WEBER), a former admirer who begs her for a large sum of cash to rescue his finances; and Bill (DAVID KOECHNER), a charming store owner who has a habit of proposing to multiple women even though he is already married.
At one point, Anne's flirtations are even mistaken for prostitution solicitation, and she is arrested. Dan keeps popping in and out of their lives, trying to reconcile but remains unwilling to change. Eventually, Anne decides to take Robbie to Hollywood.
OUR TAKE: 6.5 out of 10
Moviegoers have a long history of opening their hearts to strong-willed women who are forever on the verge of losing themselves in their own self-obsessed mania. From Scarlett O'Hara to Blanche DuBois, we squint and shake our heads at these characters. But we also root for them and can't stop watching them.
So it is with Renee Zellweger's Anne Deveraux in "My One and Only." Now, of course, Zellweger's character work here will never be as iconic as Vivien Leigh's was in "Gone With the Wind" and "A Streetcar Named Desire." But, in Zellweger's capable hands, you could totally see Anne watching those movies, shaking her head in recognition, and yelling back at the screen "You go, girls!"
Set in 1953, "My One and Only" follows Anne as she leaves her philandering husband (Kevin Bacon) and their posh Manhattan lifestyle and takes to the American road with her two teenage sons, George and Robbie. George (Logan Lerman) is the sensitive, scholarly type who reads "Catcher in the Rye" and wants little to do with his mother's quest to find herself and her next husband. Robbie (Mark Rendall), meanwhile, is a closet homosexual eager to lose himself in fictional characters whether in the movies or onstage.
The film follows this trio as they skip from town to town (Baltimore mostly stands in for 1950s Boston, Pittsburgh and St. Louis). Anne pulls out all the stops, connecting with an old flame here, attracting the eye of a rich entrepreneur there.
The movie's main drawback is that it is episodic in nature, and each episode plays out exactly as the previous one. Anne and her sons roll into a new city. Anne meets a man she swears is husband material. It briefly looks like it's going to work out for her. Then, something happens - generally, the men turn out to be frauds on one level or another - and the Deverauxs leave town.
But there is a lot to be said for likability, and "My One and Only" is a very likable, low-key movie that has a good sense of period detail and attitudes. Zellweger has some truly lovely moments with the two younger actors who play her sons, and screen vets like Chris Noth and David Koechner acquit themselves well showing up as two of Anne's very ill-suited suitors. Noth, in particular, leaves his mark as Harlan. The career military man, at first, rescues Anne only to then try and imprison her. Other familiar faces like Steven Weber and Eric McCormack are barely given enough screen time to register.
Very late in the film, it is revealed that this is actually a biopic of a well-known, real-life actor who shared similar experiences in the 1950s as he traveled west to make it in Hollywood. As one of the producers on the film, this actor's contributions almost undoubtedly produced the general feeling of authenticity and nostalgia on display throughout. This is a nice, little sleeper surprise that rates as a 6.5 out of 10. (T. Durgin)
Reviewed September 3, 2009 / Posted September 4, 2009
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