Flannel Pajamas (2006)

I love this movie so much

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

"Flannel Pajamas" opens with the meeting of Stuart and Nicole at a convivial dinner party. Despite Stuart trumpeting his life philosophy in a narcissistic monologue, the romantic portents seem promising, and by the end of the evening they are clearly besotted with each other. The film's Indie credentials are established over the next half hour with some fairly explicit love scenes, which unfortunately add little to either plot or character development. In due course the lovers marry, put on their clothes and start criticizing each other - immediately transforming the erotic intimacy of their bedroom into a place of estrangement. Nicole gripes that Stuart doesn't listen to her and won't talk about his issues - while remaining secretive about her own. With communication and tenderness in short supply, the marriage turns rancid as they persist with their complaints and evasions, until their faces turn sour with resentment.A troupe of peripheral characters come and go, priming the audience for plot-lines that never materialize, leaving "Flannel Pajamas" full of loose threads and soggy with irrelevant material. The script fails to define the couple's essential problem - and while such ambiguity may be commonplace in marriage, it's a questionable recipe for drama. Most viewers will probably have had enough of this tiresome twosome and their endless duplicity long before the curtain falls.

I just caught this movie last night on IFC. I found it totally engrossing and liked it very much, although I can't quite say why. All I know is that with its quiet realism, this movie was the perfect example of why I prefer "indie"-type movies over blockbuster-type mainstream American films. To me, this movie had a theme very similar to the recent "500 Days of Summer." Although "500 Days" was more in a comedic vein, in both movies, the male lead - try as he might to get the female lead to love him (or stay in love with him) - ends up getting his heart broken. Flannel Pajamas is about the quick spark but ultimate disintegration of a relationship. It had no readily recognizable climax; in fact, I spent most of the two hours tensely waiting for one, but the fact that one never materialized only served to underscore that real life often does not contain such obvious turning points. In particular, I kept expecting Stuart to have an emotional meltdown - on the heels of both his brother's suicide and his wife's departure - but that never really happens (although the heart-wrenching scene in Times Square of Stuart watching from the sidelines as a child happily runs into the arms of his waiting father comes pretty close). Some of the reviews I've read on this site speak of neither character being "likeable." To the contrary, I liked Stuart very much. From the way he is introduced in the opening scenes, I expected not to like him, but by film's end, I was scratching my head as to why any woman would want to leave a man who is handsome, rich, thoroughly in love with her, and eager to please her in every way. In contrast, I found Nicole flaky, utterly selfish and impossible to please. The fact that she whines over Stuart's never actually having said "I do" at their wedding made me want to gag. And the fact that she chided him for never wanting to hold hands anymore - this when he just tenderly takes her hand - made me want to slap her. More significantly, the fact that she would intentionally try to get pregnant despite her prior agreement with Stuart to wait two years is one of the most under-handed things I can imagine taking place in a relationship. Much is made of Nicole's dysfunctional family, a family marked by divorce and abuse. Perhaps this is the root of her inability to maintain a stable relationship. It must be, as I find no fault with the sympathetic Stuart. To me, Stuart is the aggrieved character here; it broke my heart to see him so broken-hearted. I must say I was baffled by the last scene of Stuart being brought to laughter by the sight of a pinwheel. The movie would have benefited greatly from the opportunity for that final "Aha!" moment, but alas one was not forthcoming.

A remarkable movie. This very New York "scenes from a marriage" traces the trajectory of a relationship from horny, starry-eyed romance to abandonment and desolation. It's funny, clever, romantic, sexually frank, emotionally raw, and painfully believable in ways that we forget movies can be (because we so seldom see movies that are). The dialogue is fast, slick, surprising, literate, and delivered with awesome skill by all the actors. Scripts like this must be what actors live for. Every performance is a gem, and the secondary characters are delineated as memorably as the leads (special kudos to Jamie Harold as the charismatic nut-case brother, and Chelsea Altman as the heroine's poisonous best friend). Scene after scene left me grinning with admiration for the writer and the performers, but if I had to pick one highlight it just might be the sparring match between the young husband Stuart (Justin Kirk), and his mother-in-law Elizabeth (Rebecca Schull) in the hospital cafeteria, about three quarters into the movie. Watch for it. If you let these characters under your skin, the movie will leave you aching in the end. The last few shots are more wrenching than any I've seen in a long while. Not to be missed, especially if you love sharp writing and great ensemble acting. I hadn't even heard of this movie until recently, and few recent movies to spin through my disk player have surprised, delighted, and moved me like this one. The movie is an extra special treat if you know NY City.

Greetings again from the darkness. Having seen the trailer a few times, I had pretty much decided this was not one I would see. Then I saw Roger Ebert raving about it and since he is a movie critic god, it was obvious I needed to see it.Now I am not going to write the great Mr. Ebert and ask for my money back, but I must admit I am somewhat baffled by his comments. While there are moments of brilliant intimacy, for the most part this movie is just about the arc of 90% of the relationships today. I wish that were more of a compliment, but instead I compare this to "Before Sunset", the obnoxious remake to Richard Linklater's 1994 gem "Before Sunrise". In other words, it is 2 plus hours of listening to two fairly unlikeable people TALK incessantly about themselves and their relationship. This is definitely no "My Dinner With Andre".Of course, writer/director Jeff Lipskey tosses is many more characters ... probably too many ... to show the complexities within this or any other relationship. Julianne Nicholson and Justin Kirk are the couple and while Ms. Nicholson exudes a camouflaged charm, Mr. Kirk is little more than a smarmy, unable to communicate about anything important dude who is just like most guys. We pretty much dislike him from the opening scene in the café when his self-centeredness is obvious to all but Ms. Nicholson.I know little of Mr. Lipsky, but I am not sure if his objective was to visualize the issues of most relationships, point out the lack of judgment exhibited by most women when choosing a partner or some other deep philosophical issue. All I know is that the ending was obvious from the inane opening sequence, although there were some very poignant moments in between.The best part of the film may be the closing credit song "Thursday" by Asobi Soksu. As for Roger Ebert, my opinion of him is not damaged one bit, as what makes watching movies so wonderful is the slight chance that one may hit you where it counts. "Flannel Pajamas" did this for him, but not for me.