Review of Something's Gotta Give (2003) by Simon D — 23 Apr 2016

Something's Gotta Give is a "well-packaged" light-hearted and romantic comedy written and shot by Nancy Meyers, who has experience of the genre with Father of the Bride and What Women Want, with two acting giants in mind: Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton.

Nicholson and Keaton are given a pleasant script to expand on and both deliver top performances, as you would expect. One being the notorious bachelor and the other the stiff divorced playwright. The supporting cast are also good and contribute to the film's feel-good message. Even Keanu Reeves is fresh and his Dr Mercer character provides the extra charm.

The acting and the dialogue are the positives of Something's Gotta Give but the film does rely heavily on them, although not totally.

If you remove Keaton and Nicholson and their impros you may end up with another one of those dull romantic comedies. But what I thought was also interesting was the theme of love and falling in love after you are 50 or 60 years old. I don't recall a film where both leads are in that age period and their characters end up united at the end.

Something's Gotta Give starts by forming two couples (Nicholson and Peet - Keaton and Reeves) with big age differences. After a few twists and turns both couples eventually break up and we are left with Nicholson and Keaton together, underling the message that the mature wins.

The film was enjoyable and had some funny moments. I liked it despite not being a woman and over 45. So it has a more general appeal than one might suspect.