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MANAGEMENT

Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Steve Zahn, Woody Harrelson, Fred Ward and Margo Martindale

Directed by: Stephen Belber

Rated R for language

By John Delia

There is a very quirky romantic comedy on the screen called Management and I liked it a lot. The characters are charming, interesting and real (even a little crazy and pathetic). The film treats with a sense of imagination that we sometimes forget that exists.

The movie centers on Mike Cranshaw (Zahn) and Sue Claussen (Aniston) who have a chance meeting when Sue on a sales trip to Arizona takes a room at a hotel owned by Mike’s parents. On a lark or complete desperation to meet someone, Mike brings a bottle of wine to Sue’s room. A little frightened at first, Sue feels Mike means well and the two strike up a conversation brining out their enigmatic desires they did not realize existed. When Mike takes a trip to Maryland where Sue works, his stalking charm puts a damper on their relationship and Mikes dream. But that only triggers Mike’s determination to conquer love.

I love the acting by Aniston and Zahn and the chemistry between them, even though their characters are questionable at times. You just have to let your imagination prevail on this one so you can enjoy the strange romantic relationship between the two. Zahn takes Cranshaw and shows how oppressed the man is by parents that never let him see the world. Having no notion of how to find a true love and then grasping at straws to make it happen is moving yet bizarre. In return we get a great performance from Aniston as a woman who has been stripped of her sense of purpose and we find Claussen falling for this weird and wonderful man.

The direction by Belber makes the film work by taking the bizarre story and making his two stars provide us with this couple that becomes entwined on a chance meeting. He makes his camera work for him with angles that give us a closer look into the sole of the couple. Although there are some abrupt scene changes, the damage that they do is not enough to dispel the believability of the storyline.

The film has been rated R for language, but also has brief sexuality so take this into consideration when deciding to take immature youngsters to see the film.

FINAL ANALYSIS: A good date flick that should create a lot of dinner talk following it. (3.5 of 5 stars)