And So It Goes (Rhoades)

“And So It Goes”

Is Age Appropriate

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

 Here comes another preview (thanks to the New York Film Critics program) at a new movie before its national release -- this time “And So It Goes.” (/Wed. July 9 at 7:00pm)

This rom-com starring Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton is a testament to America’s swelling audience of baby boomers. No, we’re not interested in Romeo-and-Juliet teen romances. Not even comedies about the mating habits of twenty- or thirtysomethings. Even midlife dramedies are well behind us.

Now we’re into rom-coms featuring grandparents like many of us. Besides, our favorite movie stars have grown older too.

Take almost-70-year-old Michael Douglas and 68-year-old Diane Keaton. We remember when he was romancing the stone and she was goofy Annie Hall. But, of course, we were younger then too.

With “And So It Goes” -- a one-night-only advance screening scheduled for July 9th at the Tropic Cinema -- we have Douglas as a hot-shot realtor whose estranged son drops off a ten-year-old granddaughter in his care. But for a workaholic guy like him there is property to be sold and deals to be closed and, well, he just doesn’t have time to babysit a young girl he hardly knows. So he enlists the help of his next-door neighbor, played by Keaton.

 A precocious young actress, Sterling Jerins plays the granddaughter. She’s the McGuffin (if we can borrow the Hitchcock term for a romantic comedy), the device that sets the story in motion. But the movie is really about two older folks who are brought together by these awkward circumstances.

This is Diane Keaton’s first movie with Michael Douglas. “It’s really surprising that they haven’t worked together,” says director Rob Reiner, who worked with Douglas in 1995s “The American President.”

Reiner (Meathead from Archie Bunker days) is no meathead when it comes to making movies. He gave us “When Harry Met Sally,” “The American President,” and “The Princess Bride.” All three of these films are ranked by the American Film Institute as among the Top 100 Love Stories. So Douglas and Keaton are in good hands.

Rob Reiner will be on hand (via streaming video) to talk about making “And So It Goes,” a terrific feature of these New York Film Critic presentations.

Rob Reiner says, “I’m married and everything, but I know what it feels like to be at that age and hoping that your life’s not over when you’re in your 60s … you’re looking for that one more great romance … I don’t think there are many films out there – romantic films for people of our age.”

But that’s changing as we all get older. And so it goes.

srhoades@aol.com