Living Out Loud Does Not Get the Point Across

For many middle-aged wives, the fear of their husbands leaving them for a younger woman is not a uncommon thought. For wealthy New Yorker Judith Nelson, played by the affable Holly Hunter, not even brains, money or looks can save her failed marriage in the movie “Living Out Loud.”

Poor Judith Nelson. If the iconic HBO television show “Sex and the City” has taught its viewers one thing, it's the fact that these broken-hearted romantics need to move on. Strangely reminiscent of “Sex and the City,” the movie is directed in a way that allows Hunter's character to ooze her feelings and bare her soul in an introspective and almost Shakespearian way (where characters simply cannot keep their emotions to themselves). At least SATC's Carrie Bradshaw had a sense of humor.

The problem is that director Richard LaGravenese thought it would be a good idea to re-hash certain aspects of “The Bridges of Madison County,” which he wrote the screenplay for. Both movies are built on a great film making technique where characters and dialogue are the driving forces of interest in the movie. However, many movies fail to be perfect, and having self-absorbed thought sessions from Nelson doesn't give her character true depth until she finds solace in the other characters.

Spending her lonely nights in Jaspers, an upper west side jazz nightclub, she builds her spirit by watching the amazing Queen Latifah doing what she does best: performing her ass off. The rapper turned singer helps change Nelson's life, while balancing a bevy of sizzling musical numbers that is strangely reminiscent of Jennifer Hudson's Oscar-winning performance as Effie in 2006's “Dreamgirls.” Latifah is a born entertainer in every right, as she steals every scene she's in with relative ease, but when belting out glamorous cabaret numbers, it's hard to not be the center of attention.

However, much of “Living Out Loud” is about the relationship between Nelson and her elevator guy Pat, played by Danny DeVito, who is lonely himself and in debt. Though their friendship, which is based on their past struggles and being able to move on from them, is quite poignant and emotionally vulnerable, the resolution isn't really fleshed out, leaving the audience predictably wondering what really happens to these characters after they find complacence in their sordid lives.

Though I cannot speak to the heartbreak and struggles of growing older and falling out of love, “Living Out Loud” misses the cultural points it tries to make. Divorce, heartbreak and the possibility of a younger generation infiltrating our precious (and married) MILFs and DILFs are some common themes we can throw around here, but the movie, like America, is too consumed with itself and the characters' lives. Their lives mean nothing to us if we cannot go on the emotional rollercoaster that Miller rides throughout the movie. However, I have noticed one thing in “Living Out Loud” that college-aged kids don't seem to understand in terms of heartbreak and lost love: it's always good to talk about it with those who care, instead of drowning in a defenseless mind of confusing thoughts and lost hopes.