Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

And So It Goes Blu-ray Movie Review

Going, going, gone.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 21, 2014

Is there any question Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton are going to spend much of And So It Goes bantering and fussing with each other, only to fall madly, truly, deeply in love by the closing credits? With that aspect hopefully already answered in most filmgoers’ minds, the next question might be, is there any element of And So It Goes which isn’t manifestly predictable, as if it had been assembled from a menu of various plot points done in other, better films? Sadly, that answer is similarly “no,” leaving this kind of drab, middling film to coast along on the considerable charisma of its two iconic stars. Written by Mark Andrus, And So It Goes combines the kind of epigrammatic title of Andrus’ As Good as It Gets along with that film’s type of curmudgeonly main male character, putting the guy through a series of small scale misadventures that in this case involve a neighbor woman (rather than a waitress) and a sweet young girl (rather than a middle aged gay man). And So It Goes aims for some raucous comedy sprinkled with more heartfelt moments, but overall it’s more pabulum than soufflé, but it at least offers Diane Keaton the chance to show some of her singing chops (fans may recall Keaton was in the Original Broadway Cast of Hair).

Oren Little (Michael Douglas) is an iconic realtor in a tony Connecticut suburb who has been nursing his grief over the death of his wife. He’s finally ready to sell the family mansion, but he has it listed several million (yes, several million) above what most others think is a reasonable asking price, begging the question as to how much Little really wants to part with the place. When he engages in backfiring subterfuge like stuffing every available picture frame with snapshots of families bearing the same ethnicity as prospective clients, Little’s somewhat fractured psyche is brought into better focus.

Having vacated his palatial main home, Little has taken up residence in a series of decent but decidedly smaller scale apartments, where he has raised the ire of seemingly all of his fellow tenants. Upstairs neighbor Kate (Annie Parisse) has two rambunctious boys who drive Oren crazy (or perhaps crazier), while another set of upstairs neighbors, Reggie (Albert Jones) and Kennedy (Yaya DaCosta) resent the fact that Oren’s inconsiderate parking style prevents the very pregnant Kennedy from being able to park close to their residence. Oren’s dismissive “complain to the manager” is finally met with a near unanimous chant of, “We have!”, from the assembled tenants, including his next door neighbor, Leah (Diane Keaton). At that point Oren drops the little bombshell that he’s the management, since he owns the building. So much for going up the corporate food chain.

When Leah admonishes Oren for not being compassionate, the crusty realtor lets loose with a tirade about having dealt with a cancerous wife for several years, feeding her, bathing her and loving her. It’s the first real window into the softer side of the character, and though this is a small, almost throwaway scene, Douglas and Keaton play it extremely well, with Keaton’s hushed, almost shocked, response especially well modulated.

Oren’s life is thrown into complete disarray when his ex-junkie son Luke (Scott Shepherd) shows up one day after years, announcing that while he’s clean and sober, he’s headed off to prison and has nowhere else to leave his young daughter Sarah (Sterling Jerins) than with Oren. Oren of course demurs, but should that have been the end of things, there wouldn’t exactly have been a film. Some might argue there still isn’t much of one, for Sarah of course does move in, as much with Leah as with Oren (maybe even more so), becoming a bridge of sorts between the two elders.

Anyone with a paint (and/or screenwrite) by numbers set can pretty much lay out the rest of the plot from this point forward. Oh, sure, there are a few little sidebars like Leah’s “retirement career” of being a lounge singer, which Oren attempts to take over as her agent to insure her more money. (As a longtime performing musician, all I can say about the rates quoted in this film is Connecticut lounge musicians evidently make a hell of a lot more than the rest of us drudges.) And there’s a rather well done little moment where Oren attempts to pass Sarah off to her biological mother, another supposed ex-junkie whom neither Oren nor Sarah has ever laid eyes on.

But this is overall resolutely predictable fare. It’s pleasant enough in its own undemanding way, but with this level of talent in front of the screen, things certainly should scintillate much more than they do. There’s a simple honesty to the performances by Douglas and Keaton, though, that at least somewhat elevate this mundane and often maudlin material above its baseline mediocrity.

And So It Goes Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

And So It Goes is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. While there's nothing major to complain about here, things are surprisingly soft quite a bit of the time, even in close-ups, and aside from some occasional outdoor scenery, colors aren't especially vivid or pop-worthy. There is substantial fine detail in evidence, revealing things like the fuzzy nape of Douglas' neck or the ribbed blue pattern of a suit jacket he favors. While perhaps not officially color graded, several scenes play out in hues of soft yellow, a choice which depletes minimal levels of fine detail. Contrast is generally strong, and there are no issues with digital interference or compression artifacts.

And So It Goes Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

And So It Goes is stuffed to the gills with both source cues as well as Keaton's lounge act, and it's in the use of these elements that the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track really opens up and offers some spacious listening. Otherwise, surround activity is generally limited to things like ambient environmental effects, though dialogue is occasionally directional as well. Everything is very well prioritized, with excellent fidelity, and no problems of any kind to worry about.

And So It Goes Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:13)

And So It Goes Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Some older readers may recall the old Geritol ads that offered help for so-called "iron poor blood." That geriatric aid probably should have been heaped on And So It Goes by the gallon, for this film is a pretty somnambulistic "comedy" that never ignites either from a humor standpoint or even from a basic heart connection perspective. Keaton and Douglas are just fine as the focal pair, and the supporting cast is generally quite likable, but the writing is hackneyed and Rob Reiner's direction is perfunctory at best (the less said about his "performance" as Leah's accompanist, the better). Fans of the stars may still want to check this out, and for them the good news is technical merits are generally very strong.