“Management” is one of those accessible independent films that quirky clown Steve Zahn is best known for and Hollywood personality Jennifer Aniston does occasionally to try to prove she can act.
You can always tell when Aniston is doing this, but not by any unique thespian skill on her part. Aside from the obvious pay cut she must be taking in a mildly diverting romantic comedy with cheap production values and a tiny B-level ensemble, the commercial blonde seems to think that she’s really emoting when she has dyed her hair darker, is wearing less makeup and sulks.
Eh, voila! The cute, charismatic movie star smiles less and thus turns “actress” portraying the mousy traveling salesperson Sue Claussen. Luckily, she’s playing opposite Zahn, a naturally charming loser type as the night manager of his family’s backwater Arizona motel.
The two share good chemistry in this predictable narrative about how an unlikely couple finds each other, loses each other … and, well, you know. It is their droll, offbeat early courtship in the movie’s first half that saves a movie that spins into strained farce later on.
The piece was directed and written by Stephen Belber, best known previously for his contributions as a co-writer of “The Laramie Project,” an acclaimed play and film about the Wyoming murder of Matthew Shepard. Belber, a Washington, D.C., area native, sets part of “Management” in Columbia, Md.
The filmmaker depicts Columbia as the epitome of bland, corporate suburbia. He seems to use it to represent Sue’s numb yuppie life until she meets Mike Cranshaw (Zahn). But her world goes from monochrome to Technicolor after she checks into Mike’s motel on a business trip. She mesmerizes him from the start. It will take her longer to see his appeal. Ever the practical type, Sue resists him — partly because of class differences between them, partly because Mike stalks her across the country and partly because her rich, if jerky, ex-boyfriend Jango (played by Woody Harrelson in a brief but funny turn) wants her back.
Fate will, of course, intervene. Death, pregnancy, separate escapes to a Buddhist monastery and a Chinese restaurant will shape the inevitable ending. Meanwhile, viewers might be just as happy to make the executive decision to wait and see the passable “Management” on DVD.
Quick Info
‘Management’
3 out of 5 Stars
Stars: Jennifer Aniston, Steve Zahn.
Director: Stephen Belber
Rated R for language.
Running Time: 93 minutes
