Review: Irene in Time DVD

STUDIO: Rainbow Releasing/Breaking Glass Pictures | DIRECTOR: Henry Jaglom CAST: Tanna Frederick, Lanre Idewu, Andrea Marcovicci, Victoria Tennant, Jack Maxwell, David Proval, Karen Black
RELEASE DATE: 4/6/2010 | PRICE: DVD $24.99
BONUSES: commentary, Sabrina Jaglom short film
SPECS: PG-13 | 95 min. | Comedy | widescreen | Dolby Surround | English and Spanish subtitles

RATINGS (out of 5): Movie | Audio | Video | Overall

Veteran independent filmmaker Henry Jaglom follows a bubbly singer (Tanna Frederick) with dating problems in this uneven character comedy.

Irene falls not in the first rank of Jaglom films (Always, Tracks, Last Summer in the Hamptons), but with his middling films (Babyfever, New Year’s Day). He continues his exploration of women’s psyches here with the matter of “daddy issues,” as Frederick’s character looks for traces of her beloved father in every man she dates, often scaring them off in the process.

The dating sequences are thus meant to be uncomfortable, and are, for the most part. The younger cast members contribute an earnestness to the proceedings, but longtime viewers of Jaglom’s work will be most pleased by the shorter turns contributed by older cast members from his regular ensemble, including Karen Black, Zack Norman and David Proval, as well as a newcomer to Jaglom’s world, Reni Santoni.

The movie’s major grace is Jaglom’s skillful editing, which deftly finds the “punchline” in certain scenes and aptly conveys the uncomfortable nature of the dates gone wrong.

 

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About Ed

Ed Grant has written about film for a wide range of periodicals, books and websites. He edited the reference book The Motion Picture Guide Annual and, since 1993, has produced and hosted the weekly cable program Media Funhouse, which Time magazine called “the most eclectic and useful movie show on TV.”