Julia Louis-Dreyfus. One of the greatest and most-awarded comedy actors of our time. James Gandolfini. Tony Soprano himself. One of the greatest TV actors in one of the greatest TV shows of all time. Why this sat on my watchlist for so long is beyond me, because what could be better than the two people described above coming together to lead a movie?
Enough Said is pretty much a romantic comedy in the most traditional sense of the word. Developed on a budget of only $8 million, the story follows divorcee Eva (Louis-Dreyfus) becoming an empty nester who is struggling to see where her life will go next. When she attends a party one evening, she meets Albert (Gandolfini) and they have a not-so-sweet meet cute as they both profess to not find anyone at the party attractive. Eve – a masseuse by day – later hands out her business card to a wealthy poet played by Catherine Keener and the two become unlikely best friends. The complication? Eve suddenly realises that Albert is her friend’s ex-husband whom she is constantly whining about, and it throws their relationship into question.
I’m obsessed with this cast. I know, I’ve already said that, but I have to really drill it into you how much I love these people. Not only is this movie led by two of my favourite performers of all time but you’re telling me Toni Collette also plays the sassy best friend and Amy Landecker is thrown in there too?! Excuse me while I go die.
Narratively, this is nothing that hasn’t been done before. However, this movie is exactly why more women should write romcoms – the script is so realistic and sweet, and the removal of all (well, most) cheese is so refreshing.
Not only is the writing top notch, but you know when a ‘romcom’ focuses heavily on the romance and not at all on the comedy? This is the opposite. It could probably be argued that Enough Said focuses more heavily on the comedy than the romance… and that never happens! That’s right – this is a truly funny movie with a romance element to it. A romcom that is ACTUALLY A ROMCOM?! Get outta town.
You know when you can tell two co-stars just really like each other? JLD and Gandolfini have such wonderful chemistry that feels so honest and authentically heartfelt. Basically I’m convinced they were soulmates in real life. 😭 Of course, this film comes with the honour of being Gandolfini’s penultimate movie credit… but I would rather not talk about that otherwise I’ll start to cry thank you very much.
Before I summarise, I just wanted to make a brief observation. When the daughter said “anyway I hate kids”… I felt that. Thanks for your time.
I started watching Enough Said at 9am and it was honestly such a heartwarming and lovely way to start the day. In terms of filmmaking, there’s really nothing special going on, but the zingy script and the loveable characters make it so delicious to watch.
On the whole, it’s less than memorable, but it’s a film with very few faults.
Enough Said is available to stream via Star on Disney+ in the UK.
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