It’s interesting when a star makes the leap to producer/writer/director. Katie Holmes doubled down on the challenge by making her three-way a pandemic rom-com. She deserves credit for taking a jab at territory most filmmakers remain hesitant to touch, but “Alone Together” (2022) feels a little forced. The setup makes perfect rom-com sense: while escaping New York at the outset of the pandemic, an Upper West Side writer (of course) and a recently jilted blue-collar dude end up at a double-booked Airbnb in the middle of nowhere. Alas, not enough romantic tension, plus pandemic deaths put a damper on hijinks.
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I presume Alejandro González Iñárritu was trying to make an artistic statement about the randomness of life by scrambling the timeline in “21 Grams” (2003), but it just didn’t work for me. Maybe it was punishment for my habit of trying to guess what’s going to happen next – it’s hard when next isn’t really next. Usually these kinds of movies sort themselves out and you can catch on. But in this unsatisfying rendition, where three families cross paths at a tragically metaphorical intersection, I was still stuck at the stoplight, blinker on, trying to figure out which way to turn.
Denzel Washington is Clint Eastwood with a nailgun, cleansing the high plains of Boston in “The Equalizer” (2014). You will either love or hate its bloody, vigilante-style violence. I loved it, particularly as viewed through an earlier Washington character from one of my all-time favorites, “Man on Fire.” In that 2004 movie, Denzel’s Creasy is a lost soul atoning for past sins. Here, his activities, while achieving the same goal through the same methods, are that of an avenging angel. Are those characters that much different, or is it simply our perception? Either way, I look forward to the sequel.
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