Robert Carey directs his cast with zest and the film plays its laughs with a sense of gentle sardonic smirk that makes it inoffensive yet tart.
Ira & Abby (2007)
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Synopsis: Ira Black, 33, is brilliant, neurotic, Jewish and has so many issues he can't fit them into 12 years of analysis. He can't finish his dissertation, he can't commit to his longtime girlfriend, and he's incapable of making a decision, even if it's just what to order at the diner. Abby Willoughby,... Ira Black, 33, is brilliant, neurotic, Jewish and has so many issues he can't fit them into 12 years of analysis. He can't finish his dissertation, he can't commit to his longtime girlfriend, and he's incapable of making a decision, even if it's just what to order at the diner. Abby Willoughby, 30, is a free spirit who's better at solving her friends' problems at the gym than selling memberships. When the two meet, the impossible happens: they fall in love, meet each other's parents and decide to get married, all in a few breathless hours. And life is good, until Ira finds out that Abby is a divorcee... two times over. Despite even more therapy, Ira can't help but feel that their marriage was built on a lie. They divorce quietly, while cracks grow wider in their parents' marriages. Ira's gorgeous analyst mother Arlene starts a secret liaison with Abby's charming voiceover artist father Michael, while Abby's mother Lynne wonders why she's no longer attractive to her husband and Ira's father Sy pretends not to notice. Of course, Ira soon realizes he's miserable without Abby. He asks her forgiveness and they marry again, this time making more realistic vows. But Ira's jealousy issues and Abby's free-floating tendencies lead him to reconnect with his ex-girlfriend. When Abby finds out about their parents' infidelities, the three couples converge for a hilarious group therapy scene with the eight therapists we have met in the film. Ira and Abby ultimately realize that they were meant to be together. But divorced. Because marriage just isn't for them... Ira & Abby was written by Jennifer Westfeldt, who co-wrote, co-produced and played the title role in the indie hit Kissing Jessica Stein. Westfeldt, a 2004 Tony nominee for her turn in the Broadway revival of Wonderful Town, stars as Abby, while the charming up and comer, Chris Messina (most recently seen as "Ted" on the final season of HBO's Six Feet Under) stars as Ira. Fred Willard, known for such films as Anchorman, A Mighty Wind, and Best in Show, and for his Emmy-nominated turn on Everybody Loves Raymond, co-stars as Michael, and Golden Globe winner and multiple Emmy nominee Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under) plays Abby's mother Lynne. The well-known comedian/actor Robert Klein (Two Weeks' Notice, How To Lose A Guy in Ten Days), co-stars as Ira's father, Sy, and Judith Light, best known as the star of the long-running sitcom Who's The Boss? will play the role of Arlene. -- © Official Site [More]
Genre: Comedies
Starring: Jennifer Westfeldt, Chris Messina, Frances Conroy, Judith Light, Robert Klein
DVD Info
Release:
May 1, 2010
DVD Features:
- Region 1
- NTSC
- Keep Case
- Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85
Audio:
- Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
- Dolby Digital 2.0 - English
- Subtitles - Spanish - Optional
Additional Release Material:
- Audio Commentary - 1. Jennifer Westfeldt - Actor/Executive Producer/Writer
- 2. Llana Levine - Actor/Executive Producer
- Gag Reels
- Outtakes
Reviews
Ira & Abby may drive you into therapy, but you'll be chuckling all the way.
The steady addition of more and more characters served to fragment what could have been a charming romantic comedy.
Ira and Abby may be a divorce comedy, but the perfect marriage of two comically inspired minds, director Robert Cary (Anything But Love) and writer/star Jennifer Wesfeldt (Kissing Jessica Stein) is irresistible.
"Ira & Abby" doesn't throw out the romantic comedy rule book, but it occasionally shuffles the pages a little for comic effect.
In the season that has seen such loathsome films as Good Luck Chuck and The Heartbreak Kid, Ira & Abby is remarkable proof that a compelling and funny love story can appear on celluloid.
On paper, Ira and Abby sounds like a sitcom (in fact, it sounds like Dharma & Greg). But intelligence and fine acting shoves it up several notches.
It spends so much time reminding of how quaint and kooky it is throughout that you may find yourself pulling out your wallet or purse and offering it some of your hard-earned money if it will agree to just simmer down and go away
The movie benefits from an exceptionally strong line-up of supporting characters beautifully played by a top-notch cast.
Ira & Abby has plenty of sharp details, mostly verbal, and it gives old pros and newer faces a chance to show off their poker-faced comic wiles.
Ira & Abby is a charming film, but it's nearly great when it settles down and causally explores life's often strange complications.
It's sunny, oh-so-New-York and ever-so cute, and Messina and Westfeldt, under-used actors, are equally beguiling.
The group-therapy scene that wraps it up brings those substantial themes together in a way that’s uproariously funny.
The result is light but surprisingly fresh, and even a bit insightful.
Offers some smiles and rueful insights about the vicissitudes of love, but its almost slavish imitation of the Woody Allen formula ultimately makes it seem stale.
Ira & Abby, in its breezy, low-key way, will make audiences happy -- something [director] Westfeldt already knows how to do.
A mixed bag with a lot of cutesy awfulness to wade through, but the acerbic ending is enough of a punchline to suggest that Westfeldt understands what a joke this kind of film can be.
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