And so it goes: One shade of grey

Low on laughs and high on clumsy sentiment, And So It Goes squanders its star power, says Adam Zacharias

Complaining about a rom-com’s predictability is much like moaning that your ice cream is too cold – it’s the undesirable byproduct of an otherwise pleasurable experience.

And yet the major problem with And So It Goes isn’t the will-they-won’t-they romance between curmudgeonly real estate agent Oren (Michael Douglas) and kind-hearted jazz singer Leah (Diane Keaton).

They will – of course they will – but the destination is spoiled by a lazy, mushy and nuance-free journey which only raises the occasional smile.

Oren is desperate to sell one last house, his mansion in a picturesque lakeside suburb in the U.S. Northeast, before retiring and leaving town for good.

The only trouble is that his asking price is several million dollars too high, leaving the widower stuck in a small holiday home, where his obnoxious and self-centered behaviour alienates everyone around him – especially next-door neighbour Leah, herself a widow.

But Oren’s comfortable life of misanthropy is rattled when his estranged son Kyle (Austin Lysy) shows up on his way to prison for a nine-month stretch.

Kyle, a former drug addict, introduces Oren to his nine-year-old granddaughter Sarah (Sterling Jerins), whom he must look after as she has nowhere else to go. Oren is outraged, until his icy heart is gradually melted by Leah and Sarah.

Rob Reiner, best-known for the classic 1989 love story When Harry Met Sally, directs on autopilot and co-stars as Leah’s pianist – sporting a suspect toupee which thankfully spawns just the one joke.

The screenplay comes from Mark Andrus, famed for his 1997 comedy As Good As It Gets – which stars Jack Nicholson as…a curmudgeonly old man whose icy heart is melted when he meets a woman.

Douglas and Keaton are dependable and likeable leads, but their chemistry is ambushed by a cloying script filled with trite lines and clumsy exposition. Still, at least the leafy scenery is impressive.

And so it goes

Director: Rob Reiner

Cast: Michael Douglas, Diane Keaton, Sterling Jerins, Austin Lysy, Annie Parisse, Rob Reiner, Yaya DaCosta