Enough Said

Tonight I saw Enough Said, starring James Gandolfini and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Eva (Louis-Dreyfus) is a divorced masseuse ready to send her daughter Ellen (Tracey Fairaway) off to college. She accompanies her best friends—a married couple—to a party and meets two people.

The first, Marianne (Catherine Keener), is a poet with a shoulder that is in desperate need of massage therapy; the second, Albert (Gandolfini) is Marianne's ex-husband.

When Eva meets them, she has no idea they were once married to each other. She begins dating Albert and immediately feels a chemistry with him. Alternately, Marianne becomes her client and they develop a genuine friendship.

It's only when Eva sees their daughter Tessa (Eve Hewson) at Marianne's house that she makes the connection.

Unfortunately, instead of coming clean then and there, she keeps her knowledge of their past a secret and mines Marianne for information about Albert. Because Marianne is so bitter toward her ex, the the things she describes that once bothered her begin to bother Eva.

This scenario is refreshing because it could (and probably does) happen in real life. Furthermore, both leads are so endearing, it's hard not to root for them to end up together, even with Albert's sloppy faults and Eva's bad judgment.

It's a relief to see Louis-Dreyfus not playing a silly or snarky woman and borderline heartbreaking to watch Gandolfini at his most gentle, the way most who knew him personally describe his real-life personality.

The supporting cast is fantastic too—Toni Colette effortlessly plays Eva's flawed best friend, who just happens to be a shrink, and Eve Hewson nails the self-absorbed teenage daughter part.

I've always been a fan of writer/director Nicole Holofcener's gift for painting such real characters and this movie may be her best of all.

Go see it as soon as possible. And then go see it again.

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