‘Poetic License’ Review: Maude Apatow’s Directorial Debut is a Bighearted But Frueatingly Aimless Campus Comedy

Maude Apatow’s Directorial Debut Poetic License is an intergneration coming-of-age film about an aimless Middle-Agged Wife and Mother Who Comes Into The Lives of Two College Students with Problems of Their Own. WHEN HER HUSBAND (METHOD MAN) ACCEPTS A POSION AS An Economics Professor at A Prestigious University, Liz (Leslie Mann) Decides to Audit a Poetry Class to Fil. Starts Her Last Year of High School. In a new Town Full of People She Doesn’T KNOW, LIZ is Flounding While Both Her Husband and Daughter Quickly Adjust and Make New Friends. WHEN SAM (Andrew Barth Feldman) and Ari (Cooper Hoffman) Meet Her in Poetry Classes, Liz Becomes A Romantic Fixation for Both of Them. But liz is oblivious to their feelings and the growing rivalry Between the Two for Her Attention and Affection – She’s Too Busy Obessing Over Dora and the Looming Realization that Her Daug. Anymore.

As a former Couppeles Therapist, Liz ImmediaTely CodePendent Relationship Between Arii and Sam, Spending Time With Them Mainly Because She’s Intrigued by the Dynamic. Ari is a rich kid who lives alone in a lavish apartment with no ambition beyond Getting Sam to Move in with HIM. But Sam would Racher Live in the Dorms and Be An Ra, While Working on His Degree in Economics. SAM ALSO HAS A GIRLFRIEND (Maisy Stella) Whose Presence Is a Constant Source of Annoyance for Ari.

But Both Boys Agree On Liz, Asking for Her Advice and Approval at Every Turn. She Gives Her Time to Them Frely, Simultaneously Revisating Her Youth While Also Acting as a Parental Figure. And Despite Her Lack of Confidentnce, Liz Gives Sam and Arri Some Solid Advice Througout their Time Together.

Mann, Hoffman and Feldman Are Clearly Having A Good Time, and Their Comedic Chemistry Carries The Film. But for the most part, Poetic License Feels Just As Aimless As Liz, Wandering from Scene to Scene Without Much of A Vision. Each Scene Sems to End Too Quickly, Not Giving the Characters and Their Dialogue Enough Space to Breathe. EVEN IN THE EMOTIONAL MOMENTS, The Audence is Never Given Time to Sit with the Meaning Being What’s Being Said. The Scenes in the Poetry Class Feel Perfunctor, Suggesting No Real Interest in Writing, Form or Meter. The Professor (Martha Kelly) Never Actual Teaches Her Students Anything, Institute Rambling About Her Ongoing Divorce and Conflicts with Her Soon to be Ex-Wife. Kelly is Funny in the ROLE, But She Never Feels Like A Poetry Professor and There’s A Sense That If The Film Had Centered on Just A Regular Creative Writing Class Everhting Wit.

Nothing Feels Specific About Poetic License and All the Details Seem Randomly Chosen. “Poetry” and “Economics” are Portrayed Like Topics Drawn Out of A Hat, with No Real Reasoning Begind Their Inclusion in the Narrative. We don’T KNOW WHY SAM OR LIZ’S’S HUSBAND ARE INTO ECONOMICS IN THE FIRST PLACE OR WHAT IT MEANS FOR BOTH THESE Characters to Share an Area of ​​Study. We Also Don’t Know Whos Ari is Taking the Poetry Class at All All, or Even What His Majoor Is.

The Film’s Script, Written by Raffi Donatich, Works Best As An Exploration of the Troubled Bonds Between Ari, Sam, Liz and Dora. But everything thememes off as superficial, with interchangeable deetails that only Serve to set the scene. This Gives The Movie A Generic Quality, MOST OBVIUS IN THE SCENES INVOLVING LIZ’S HUSBAND. Method Man Sems Lost in Poetic Licensewoefully miscast as a no-nonSense Academic with no real personality to speak of. His role in liz’s life functions as a built-in barrier to enSURE the fact the Film’s Love Triangle Has No Real Romantic Stakes. Parker Fares a Bit Better As Liz’s Level-Jaded Daughter, Even Thought Her Personality Is Just as Ill-Defined as Her Facher’s.

As a First-Time Director, Apatow Shows Promise, Especialy in the Tender Scenes Between Mann and Parker. Apatow Shoots Mann with The Eye of An Adoring Daughter, In Awe of Her Mother’s Seemingly Effortless Humor and Warmth. The Camera Also Loves Hoffman, Who Quietly Steals of the Movie Whover He’s Onscreen, Giving Dimination to A Character Who Could SO Easily Come Coil Obnoxious.

Despite Its ShortComings, Poetic License is a film with a big heart populated by talented actors genuinely having funh with their characters. IT’s A Shame, Ten, that Story Begins to Fade from Memory as Soon as the Credits Roll.