BROKEN PICTURE // A FILM REVIEW OF "TAKE CARE"
Meet Frannie (Leslie Bibb). She's just been hit by a car and is being taken home to recuperate. She of course lives on a 4th floor walk up and being that she has a pretty shitty friend & an uncaring sister, they allow her to stay there instead of insisting that she stays with them. They also leave her high and dry immediately, not caring to help her out in her time of need. Her ex-boyfriend Devon (Thomas Sadoski) is now rich, has left her, and moved on with his new girlfriend Jodi (Betty Gilpin). So what's a girl to do when her friends and her sister can't help her out? Why blackmail her ex into helping her of course! Thus begins not the plot of a failed sitcom pilot, but the new feature film TAKE CARE Written and Directed by Liz Tuccillo (Sex and the City, the novel He's Just Not That Into You). Buckle up, it's a terribly bumpy ride.
What surprises most about TAKE CARE is how terribly unfunny it actually is. I honestly never laughed once. Tuccillo has crafted an ensemble of truly unlikable characters, starting with the grating and truly annoying lead character of Frannie. The first five minutes you hate her, and just because she eventually stops acting like a jerk doesn't make you start to like her in any way. Thomas Sadoski, so good in The Newsroom, is bland and flat here. Not that it's his fault; he's saddled with a character without any insteresting character. We're meant to root against his new girlfriend Jodi and call her "jealous" but she's the only person that seems real. Gilpin is also the only actor showcasing charm here. Perhaps Jodi would be less jealous if her boyfriend would stop spending every single night with his ex. Just a thought. Add in a truly stupid subplot about a noisy neighbor (Michael Stahl-David) that disappears for most of the movie and brings nothing to the overall picture.
Other inconsistencies also annoy, like where the hell the Nurse who is supposed to be there every other day disappears to, and why Frannie never learned how to use a phone or a computer to call delivery. Somewhere buried deep in this terrible script is a better directed film, one where maybe Frannie is actually relatable and isn't waiting for a flawed knight to save her or take care of her. Instead, she discovers that she's strong and can take care of herself. And perhaps this version of the movie won't look like it was Directed by a Clerks era Kevin Smith (Sit the camera down and walk away..... forever). Alas, that movie is not what we have. What we have is TAKE CARE, and you're gonna want to give it back this holiday season.
MATEO'S GRADE: F
Written and Directed by Liz Tuccillo
Starring Leslie Bibb, Thomas Sadoski, Betty Gilpin, Michael Stahl-David. CONTENT ADVISORY: Adult Language, Adult Situations
FINAL THOUGHTS: TAKE CARE is truly a rom com that forgot all of the com. Or the rom.
MATEO MORENO is an actor, playwright, and director in New York City. He owns and runs TheArtsWireWeekly.com and has had four of his plays produced, including BOHEMIAN VALENTINE, HAPPILY AFTER TONIGHT, WITHIN OUR WALLS, & LOVES ME LIKE A ROCK. He is currently working with Boomerang Theatre on a short play piece, workshopping a new musical, and spends his days working on the Broadway hit MATILDA.