Movie Review: Management (2008)

The movie stars Jennifer Aniston, Steve Zahn, Woody Harrelson, Fred Ward and Margo Martindale.

Since our regular Monday shows are off the air until September, my wife and I decided to watch a movie last night. We originally intended to watch a horror film. However, I wasn’t able to find any that looked good so, since my wife is a big Jennifer Aniston fan, I picked out this movie to watch with her. After watching it, my overall opinion of it was a bit mixed.

I’ll start out by saying I thought the acting in this movie was surprisingly good. Aniston put in the performance we’ve come to expect from her while Zahn played the motel manager, Mike, in a pretty memorable way, with a good mix of shyness and kindness that actually made him very likeable (more likeable than some of the other characters I’ve seen him play in other movies).

I think the person who really steals the show, however, is Harrelson in his role as the ex-punk rocker, Jango. Even though he had limited screen time, he did an excellent job carrying those scenes and I think the writers would have been better of finding a way to get him more involved because of that.

My biggest problem with this film is I wasn’t really sure what it was supposed to be.  I think it was meant to be a comedy but, in all honesty, it didn’t really work as one. There were just too many depressing pieces, such as the mom (Martindale) dying and Aniston’s character being in a relationship she really didn’t belong in. As a result, the film really has more of a solemn feel to it than a lighthearted, laugh-out-loud feel.

I also have to say there were times when Mike crossed the line a bit to the point he seemed more creepy than loveable, such as when he practically forced himself into the motel room with a bottle of wine and, later, champagne. It was the kind of thing that honestly reminded me a bit of Norman Bates from the movie “Psycho,” not a character in a romantic comedy.

Again, I thought the acting in this film was pretty decent, especially from Harrelson. However, I do feel the movie is misclassified as a comedy because the story just has too many serious twists for the jokes to work. It was still an OK movie. It just wasn’t as good as it could have been.

My Grade: C