Post Grad (3 Stars)


Movie Review by Michael Phillips

 

Alexis Bledel and Zach Gilford in the movie Post Grad

The target audience for "Post Grad" was still in diapers when Michael Keaton was riding high in things like Beetlejuice (though, honestly, there isn't anything like Beetlejuice except Beetlejuice).

No matter.

In this minor but agreeable romantic comedy, Keaton, playing the heroine's eccentric father, makes the most of a backyard burial involving a dead cat and a pizza box with the menu still taped to the outside. The makeshift kitty coffin does not quite fit the hole dug for the occasion.

Watching Keaton do what he can to fix the situation, while the pet's owner watches, quietly appalled, you're reminded how much this hugely talented actor can do with a simple setup, a few deft physical maneuvers and unpredictable timing.

The "Post Grad" director is Vicky Jenson, who comes out of animation. Her live-action technique at this point is strictly point-and-shoot, adding little visual distinction to first-time screenwriter Kelly Fremon's story about a college graduate, played by top-billed Alexis Bledel, moving back in with her folks and trying to decide between the hunk next door (Rodrigo Santoro) and good ol' reliable Adam (Zach Gilford of "Friday Night Lights"), her lovesick pal from way back.

The material may be formulaic, but the spirit of the piece is friendly. Bledel's character, Ryden Malby, is a hyper-organized sort who has her post-collegiate life mapped out in advance, the primary goal being a job at a prestigious L.A. publishing house. Life conspires against these plans, however. While friend Adam tries to reconcile his dream of a music career with the law school route, Ryden hunts for work, her father invests in a line of decorator belt buckles, and her little brother has a big soap-box derby coming up.

These are homey comic concerns, some funnier than others, but all are well-played by the ensemble. Keaton and Jane "Always Worth Seeing" Lynch slip into the roles of dad and mom; Carol Burnett, done up like a turbaned collage of many of her most familiar variety show characters, scores a few laughs as Grandma Maureen, even without the zingers she deserves.

Is "Post Grad" too low-key to snag an audience in this age of blatancy? Perhaps. But in the summer of '09, the halfway-successful romantic comedies have all been pitched to an age group I haven't belonged to in decades. "The Proposal" and "The Ugly Truth" only wish they had some of the charm of unpretentious diversions such as "Bandslam" or "Post Grad." Bledel, of "Gilmore Girls" and "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," takes things nice and easy. She's not out to kill us with cuteness.

It's too bad the plot confines her character to such a starkly limited set of options (dream career or dreamboat). But as this economy has asserted for long enough now, thanks, you can't have everything.

 

 

Post Grad

MPAA rating: PG-13 (for sexual situations and brief strong language).

Running time: 1:29.

Starring: Alexis Bledel (Ryden Malby); Zach Gilford (Adam Davies); Michael Keaton (Walter Malby); Jane Lynch (Carmella Malby); Carol Burnett (Grandma Maureen); Rodrigo Santoro (David Santiago); JK Simmons (Roy Davies); Craig Robinson (funeral director).

Directed by Vicky Jenson; written by Kelly Fremon; produced by Ivan Reitman, Joe Medjuck and Jeffrey Clifford. A Fox Searchlight release.

 

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