The Baxter (2005)
Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins
Genre: Romance
Starring: Michael Showalter, Elizabeth Banks, Justin Theroux, Michelle Williams, Michael Ian Black
Screenwriter: Michael Showalter
Composer: Theodore Shapiro, Craig Wedren
Producer: Celine Rattray
DVD Info
Release:
Jan 31, 2006
DVD Features:
- Keep Case
- Anamorphic - 1.85
Audio:
- Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
- Subtitles - English - Closed Captioning
Additional Release Material:
- Outtakes - Bloopers
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
A droll romantic comedy that relies on a self-deprecating brand of humor which must be a bit of an acquired taste. The film's utter predictably sinks this exercise in obviousms, making its few funny moments not worth waiting for.
Showalter cria um filme exatamente como seu protagonista: desajeitadamente simpático e divertido.
What comes to mind are TV sitcom pilots full of strain, and the forlornly perky mechanisms of old Day & Hudson comedies.
Clearly the filmmakers are trying to make The Baxter look old-fashioned. But there's a modern smugness and superiority that undermines that attempt.
It doesn’t take much imagination to guess who will end up with whom, but The Baxter is agreeably silly and has lots of simple charm.
Every romantic-comedy cliché gets played out, but merely re-enacting those clichés in an arch tone isn't funny enough.
Showalter tackles his mission with energy and an upbeat attitude that makes him a winner as a lovable loser.
The structure is a miscalculation by Showalter, who inexplicably drives his audience through the exact type of sappy material he had started off satirizing.
Perhaps it's only just that a movie about a loser should be a loser itself.
Only when Williams is around does the movie seem human, true, and funny: Even in her slapstick there's pain. She's almost too good: It's not until she's left a scene that you realize the movie isn't working.
Anyone who's seen a few romantic comedies, the older the better, will find something to like about The Baxter.
Is this enough on which to hang a full-fledged movie that people will pay to see? Probably not ...
The biggest failing of The Baxter is that the humor is often just too obscure.
Think of “The Baxter” as “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dumped.”
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