Movie Review: The Medler

This movie is mostly about one thing: loneliness and adjusting after a spouse dies. I can't​ remember ever seeing any movie that is entirely about this one issue, but this one handles this subject every well.

"The Medler" approaches the inevitability​ of grief and death expertly; suggesting that the main character, played very well by Susan Sarandon​, is trying to distract herself from fully realizing her grief after her husband dies by constantly calling their only daughter, played very well by Rose Byrne, meddling into her business and driving her crazy. It's quite believable​ that a person would do something like this, I​ definitely would, because sitting alone in a house and thinking about your grief would be an unbearable alternative​. Trying to distract yourself with other people and activities is certainly a healthy thing to do but can also make the people's lives around you quite miserable​.

Once Sarandon's​ daughter leaves to New York to shoot a TV pilot she replaces her daughter by helping her friend's gay friend's wedding, which also includes paying for it and handling all the details. Sarandon's character it seems has a great deal of money after her husband has died and her therapist suggests that perhaps she is giving so much of it away because of her guilt of inheriting the money in the first place. In my opinion, her money was just another way of distracting herself from facing her grief. On an airplane, on the way home after visiting her daughter, Sarandon's character had a moment of realization​ and grief that it seemed she was trying to avoid for the whole story. The acting at this point in the movie was both subtle and very well done.

There is a possible future love story that develops for Sarandon's character towards the end of the movie and her boyfriend is played very well by J.K Simmons who is in many more movies lately after his groundbreaking performance in the movie Whiplash where he won a best supporting actor Oscar in 2014. The list of Simmon's recent credits is amazing as he is trying to cash in on his Oscar before it all dries up. I have no idea how one actor can be in so many movies over such a short period of time.

This movie is a good one and the subject matter is very relatable. All of the acting performances are very good. I do recommend this movie.



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