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Canberra Today 20°/24° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Review: ‘A Place For Me’ (MA) *** and a half

JOSH Boone made his writing and directing debut in 2012 with this family drama which, albeit with a flaw or two in its plot structure, offers maturity, frankness, awareness of theme and gentle humour.

Successful novelist William (Greg Kinnear) divorced from Erika (Jennifer Connolly) enjoys recreational sex with married Tricia during her morning beach run. William and Erika’s children Samantha (Lily Collins) and Stephen King fan Rusty (Nat Wolff) both aspire to publish fiction.

Sam, independent, adventurous and promiscuous, picks up guys in bars for one-night stands. Will she get published without William’s mentoring before sending her MS to a publisher? Will she see the light while Lou (Logan Lerman) waits? Her loathing of re-married Erika is not negotiable, for reasons that seem valid when revealed.

Rusty lives with William and writes short stories. Still virgin, he’s fallen for Kate (Liana Liberato) who’s not. Kate has substance issues.

The film looks handsome. The cast does a fine job. The women rather dominate the plot, which Boone has arranged to avoid clichés of the chick-flick genre.

So what about those flaws? Have you ever tried to write a novel? Or tried to get a novel published? Boone’s screenplay doesn’t probe those complications. He’s busy directing his characters toward a credible denouement.

At Capitol 6 and Palace Electric

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Dougal Macdonald

Dougal Macdonald

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