Hollywood has a penchant for manufacturing fluffy, feel-good movies tailor-made for bleeding-heart liberals, yet every now and then, like a rare comet blazing briefly across the sky, a film emerges that takes a different path. "And So It Goes" is one of those films, where conservative sensibility actually gets some screen time, and guess what? It works like a charm. Released on July 25, 2014, this American comedy-drama lensed under the direction of Rob Reiner stars the iconic Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton. Made with just enough charm to keep you engaged but with a robust backbone of pragmatism, this film sets the boundaries of self-growth metrics by judgmental standards, not social media likes.
Douglas portrays Oren Little, a surly, abrasive real estate agent with a staggering contempt for humanity matching his stubbornly high property prices. Situated in Connecticut, where Oren stubbornly thrives, everything turns topsy-turvy when he's forced to care for his estranged granddaughter. The irony? It's genuinely touching.
Contrary to lavishly sold ideas, change doesn’t always sprout from grand gestures or rainbows but from self-introspection and hard-knock realizations. Oren's rough-cut realization journey juxtaposed with Kirsten, portrayed by Sterling Jerins, sees transformation rooted in personal accountability, devoid of the handholding and sentimentality fueling liberal fantasies.
Diane Keaton plays her part as Leah, a quirky neighbor with conviction, eschewing the typical 'Oh, I need saving' motif. Her character arc aligns more with rational growth rather than submission to ubiquitous tropes of victimhood. She sings! She shines! She thrives through robust self-reliance, heralding a reminder that sheer will can indeed yield fulfillment.
Now, bear in mind the intricate artwork of Mark Andrus, the film's writer, in waltzing straight into the heart of simplicity. With its poignant disregard for monotonous platitudes, the screenplay does not reduce relationships to a political battlefield. Instead, human traits are chiseled out with their historic raw edges intact, providing the audience with richly textured terrains of realism. It’s more responsive to the messiness of our own life choices than it is to contrived public scripts requiring all things "woke."
The film meanders through the daily bumps and comfortable lulls of Little's life, culminating at a gentle crossroads showing real growth without blaring alarms for a politicized call to action. All it asks is to witness, maybe reflect, but never rescues you from using your own judgment. And guess what? That's rare, if not endangered, in modern cinema, falsely driven by an illusion of positivity wars.
Rob Reiner's focused direction is starkly unencumbered by the obsession to please everyone. Grounded within its liberal freedom to keep it real, this movie is served by impeccable comic timing, laced with just enough charm from its veteran star cast. Filogene-encrusted blackmailer-ridden narratives describing a dystopic world through rose-tinted glasses are thrown aside, thanks to Michael Douglas. He oozes an irresistibly engaging, crusty-on-the-outside disposition, leading a bright path ahead without blindfolding complexities.
Measured by the societal litmus tests of cinema success, "And So It Goes" dodges the bipartisan minutiae and opts instead for human truths and follies, marked by inevitable hardships, grudging acceptance, and stunning triumphs spread thin and wide. You watch, you enjoy, and have room for lessons sans rhetoric. Y' know what films need more than political agenda? Hearts, minds, and shared stories whispering flags with value-driven choice adorning them, and that’s a chronic drought in today’s feature films.
Here’s the rub: with an audience nurtured on mainstream entertainment, where political correctness and identity politics obscure storytelling power—as a breath of fresh air—this story refuses to hold a guilt-ridden mirror to morality under shadows of progressive outrage. Instead, it pairs up compassion with hard truths and calls it ‘life’.