Review of Dedication (2007) by Andy S — 01 Jan 2011

I can't say I knew anything about this movie before it came up on TV this week. With only a very brief description to go on, it looked kind of interesting, so I thought I'd give it a go. It's one of those that's almost there, but not quite, like it just needed a little bit extra to make it a great movie. But more of my thoughts later, here's a very brief summary first (summary haters please comb the beach for that pebble that Henry threw away).

Henry Roth and his partner, Rudy Holt hit the jackpot when they write a children's book about a character called Marty the Beaver. Henry wrote the words and Rudy did the illustrations. Unfortunately, Rudy is taken ill and dies just before their publisher, Arthur Planck, gives Henry the deadline for the next book. A replacement artist, Lucy Reilly, is found, but it is going to be a struggle working with Henry. She is heartbroken after her boyfriend left her and Henry, apart from grieving for his friend, has many quirks that make his awkward to be around, let alone work with. Lucy's ex-boyfriend, Jeremy, appears on the scene, again, just to spice things up a little. Having discovered the penalties for not fulfilling his contract and after Lucy is offered a substantial bonus; the pair decides to work together. Moving out to Arthur's beach house to get away from the distractions of city life, they begin to be drawn together. You know something's about to go wrong with this budding romance, but I'm not going to tell you what it is here.

This is a very quirky film with a very quirky soundtrack, some of which is by the band Deerhoof. It's pretty well made, but you can tell they had a limited budget to work with. Decent performances all round, so honourable mentions go to; Billy Crudup as Henry Roth, Tom Wilkinson was excellent as Rudy Holt, Mandy Moore as Lucy Reilly, Bob Balaban as Arthur Planck, Martin Freeman as Jeremy and Dianne Wiest as Carol (Lucy's mother).

Although the tale it tell is quite endearing, I found it hard to empathise with any of the characters. I also found the attraction between Henry and Lucy a little far fetched (although stranger things have been known to happen in real life). Over all, it's worth a viewing for Tom Wilkinson, but I didn't find a lot else in it for me.

My score: 5.7/10.