There are expectations people have about when they’ll hit certain milestones or where they’ll be at key points in their lives. But it’s not always possible to predict how things will go, what interests will suddenly hit, and what other turns may be dictated by uncontrollable circumstances. Poetic License has four protagonists – one mother well into her professional life, her high school-age daughter, and two college best friends – all finding life to be a little less predictable than they had hoped and searching for some sense of fulfillment that they’re not finding.
Liz (Leslie Mann) has just moved with her husband James (Method Man) and daughter Dora (Nico Parker) to a college town where James has a new job. Taking a break from practicing as a therapist, Liz decides to audit a poetry class taught by the dry, eccentric Greta (Martha Kelly). She meets fellow classmates Ari (Cooper Hoffman) and Sam (Andrew Barth Feldman), longtime best friends who both develop feelings towards Liz as Ari tries to wean himself off medication and Sam can’t seem to break up with his girlfriend Grace (Maisy Stella).
This film is the directorial debut of Maude Apatow, and it’s a fun family affair since Mann is her real-life mother. While Apatow didn’t write the script herself – praise for its great banter goes to Raffi Donatich, delivering an impressive first feature screenplay – this does feel a lot like the kind of film that she would have written given the experience she’s had acting in films with her mom and directed by her dad, Judd Apatow. It’s considerably more toned-down and less overtly sexual than the project in which she had her breakthrough role, Euphoria, emphasizing romantic, longing feelings rather than straight-up vulgar sex, something that has also defined her father’s films. It’s nice to see her doing something slightly different but just recognizable enough as appealing to the same audience.
This feels like a very relatable comedy that spans generations, and its premise is unique enough because there’s not one specific relationship at its center. Liz really is the main character, and she’s just seeking friends, whether or not she knows it, and that’s exactly what the much younger Ari and Sam could be for her, if they were able to realize that she’s not looking for a replacement for her husband but someone who can actually listen to her. While most of the characters are strongly-written and feel deep, James is the thinnest among them, not quite as relevant to the story and underdeveloped as a result.
It’s wonderful to see Mann, typically relegated to scene-stealing supporting roles, in a lead part. She plays Liz as not especially awkward or socially inept, but just lost enough to not always say or do the right thing in situations. Hoffman and Feldman are a phenomenal duo, meeting somewhere in between Licorice Pizza and No Hard Feelings to showcase a friendship that feels real when it needs to and absolutely over-the-top in the best way when the cracks begin to show. Stella, recently seen in My Old Ass, still makes a mark with a small part, and Kelly, who also starred on Euphoria, is excellent and hilarious as usual with just about everything she utters.
This isn’t a particularly serious film, and that’s okay. Apatow, just twenty-seven years old, makes a promising directorial debut that demonstrates an endearing commitment to characters and to turning this multi-faceted story, which also includes a worthwhile part for Parker in the vein of what she did last year in Suncoast, into something accessible at multiple points. Poetic License is a comedy that’s purely enjoyable, very funny when it wants to be and only occasionally approaching serious takeaways that might make it a bit deeper.
Movie Rating: 8/10
