Juliet, Naked (Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke, Chris O'Dowd)

[Holmes]

My thoughts:

This is a hugely charming Nick Hornby adaptation; it has unabashed, Richard Curtis-style romanticism in its DNA, but also an edge and a bite, particularly in its lampooning of obsessive fandom. Ethan Hawke is perfectly cast as a musician who maintains an adoring cult audience despite decades of reclusive inactivity. As an actor near the heart of fashionable nineties culture (Reality Bites, Before Sunrise) who has aged well and maintained his credibility, the role fits him snugly. He infuses it with both unruly charisma and a poignant sense of regret, and he is convincing as a musician in the alternative mold of, among others, Ryan Adams and the late Elliott Smith.

Rose Byrne is superb, too, as a sympathetic and well-drawn heroine with an appealing arc of empowerment; excelling at both drama and comedy, Byrne always feels slightly undervalued in the industry. The film in general, chiefly set in a picturesque seaside town, has a certain escapist romantic-comedy whimsy to be sure, but it is also wisely grounded at key intervals (one subplot pointedly ends without any cathartic resolution, suggesting certain wounds must go unhealed).