Dedication (2007)
Release Date: 2007 Theatrical/Festival Tuesday February 12, 2008 (DVD/video) Genre: Drama Running Time: 93 min. Director: Justin Theroux Cast: Billy Crudup, Mandy Moore, Tom Wilkinson, Martin Freeman, Dianne Wiest, Christine Taylor, Bob Balaban, Amy Sedaris, Bobby Cannavale
This film really did it’s job in the 93 minutes it had to do it. First time director Justin Theroux did an amazing job with this picture. In the entirety of the film we are at the forefront of a man whose life is pretty screwed up. He’s got a lot of issues he deals with on the regular and is a pretty miserable guy who ironically writes children’s books and does rather well at that despite his sour and awful demeanour. The worst thing that can happen to a paranoid obsessive like him is change: so in one shot he loses his only friend/illustrator to cancer. Just like that he is stuck having to figure out a new life and make a new connection. The greatest part of this film isn’t so much Billy Crudup’s performance or Mandy Moore’s (although their on screen chemistry was great) rather it is all to the merit of Tom Wilkinson. Wilkinson plays Rudy Holt, Henry’s (Crudup) only friend in the world. The magic part about this character is that even after he dies his memory acts as Henry’s conscience telling him what to do. He is the voice of unparalleled reason in this film and Henry eventually listens to him. It’s almost a tribute to madness as path towards redemption/salvation if you will. It’s nice to see a film where realism relies on fantasy to be fulfilled.
Something interesting this film does is it incorporates a few Jewish traditions that we don’t often see in films and manages to do so subtly. This incorporation of tradition via character versus exposition allows some very poetic meaning to be incurred by the film. The most important would be the cemetery scene. It’s a very old Jewish tradition to introduce your fiancé to your grandparents (even if they are dead). When Henry takes Allison (Mandy Moore) to the cemetery to visit Rudy it’s a really pivotal moment because two things happen: first Henry acknowledges Rudy as a familial figure and second he indicates his feelings for Allison outright with a very rooted gesture. A lot more transpires but I wouldn’t want to ruin it for anyone watching the film. The most tender moments of this film are perhaps hard to watch and really vulnerable moments for the characters. I don’t know if Justin Theroux will direct again but I surely hope so.
Also, the idea of Jews writing Christmas books was really funny given that Judaism is the precursor to Christianity. There are so many subtle discourses going on in this picture that the romantic aspect of it really does make it palatable and almost translucent in terms of theme and actual narrative. I am going to be a girl about this and say it’s also simply a really cute movie. So for those looking for great "Life is lines" or those looking for the guy to get the girl in the end or maybe just to see someone triumph in the face of self perpetuated adversity I really think this is a movie you won’t want to miss.