Another film from a while back that I’m revisiting—I’ve been going through my DVD shelves to see what I can declutter, so expect more movies of that sort to crop up in the future. This is a rom-com with a fun premise, but for me, the execution doesn’t quite land. While it has some definite good qualities, I have a hard time getting fully into it.
Elliot Sherman is a “Baxter,” the sort of man who gets left when the guy his girlfriend is really in love with steps up with a grand romantic gesture. He’s the “wrong guy” in the rom-com, the boyfriend who’s fine enough on paper but isn’t The One, a short detour on the road to happily ever after. After a seeming lifetime of Baxterdom, he hopes he’s finally found lasting happiness with his fiancée Caroline. But as the wedding nears, he gets nervous when Caroline’s high school sweetheart Bradley comes back into her life.
I really like the concept, viewing a traditional rom-com through the lens of the character who loses out when the leads finally get together. It’s the sort of deconstruction I find interesting, and I like that Elliot is self-aware enough to recognize his role and actively try to keep this from happening to him again. The flashbacks to previous Baxter experiences he’s had are over-the-top and fun as we watch a bevy of his ex-girlfriend get swept off their feet by their One True Love while he stands on the sidelines. I appreciate the little notes to show that Elliot’s own choices play a role in his relationship fizzles; though he may think otherwise, he’s not just an unfortunate victim of the whims of the rom-com gods. I also like his interactions with Cecil, a friend who tries to help him navigate his romantic dilemma. They share an awkwardness that meshes well together.
But on the whole, the humor of the film veers between stilted and overexaggerated. Elliot is a fastidious nebbish, but in such a way that he never feels quite real. It always feels like a performance, which hurts his dynamic with other characters in the film. I don’t understand his relationship with Caroline to begin with; it’s hard for me to tell why she would’ve ever been into him, rather than just clearly preferring Bradley to him. And I think Bradley is probably a little too perfect. Part of the sizzle in a rom-com frequently comes when the leads butt heads and challenge each other. Everything about Bradley feels tailormade to be an “ideal” man—he and Caroline share private jokes, he has a cool job and a laidback philosophy on life, he’s emotionally sensitive, he picks a lone flower struggling up through a crack in the sidewalk rather than buying a soulless storebought bouquet, ad infinitum. There’s not really any conflict between him and Caroline, and that’s where a lot of the chemistry in rom-coms really sparks.
This film is written/directed by and stars Michael Showalter, with Michael Ian Black and David Wain in small roles. I’ll admit that I haven’t seen much of Stella’s comedy, like their self-titled show or Wet Hot American Summer. So I don’t know how The Baxter measures up within their work.
Like I said, Showalter plays Elliot, speaking with the most precise diction of all time. Elizabeth Banks works well enough with what she has as Caroline, although she’s written very two dimensionally. While I have some quibbles with how he’s written, Justin Theroux is super funny as Bradley. As the kids say, he understood the assignment, and he plays it to a tee. Meanwhile, Michelle Williams is sweetly charming as Cecil, and in addition to Black and Wain, we also get a small appearance from Paul Rudd. My main reason for seeing this film originally was actually Peter Dinklage, who plays Elliot and Caroline’s wedding planner. He only appears in one extended sequence and a few other quick snippets, but in my biased opinion, he’s the best part of the movie. This was pre-Game of Thrones but post-The Station Agent, and Dinklage makes the absolute most of every line reading and reaction shot.
Warnings
Language, sexual references, and drinking/drug references.
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