If you've seen the hit TV show "Ted Lasso" then you're familiar with Jason Sedeikis. I think the show owes a great deal of its success to his acting. Sedeikis has been in a boatload of films over the years, mainly playing comic roles. So I was curious to see how he performs in something a bit more dramatic. I'm glad to say he outdid himself in this heartfelt little indie film. For some reason, the critics totally panned "The Book of Love". The general consensus among the pundits is that the plot is a bit farfetched. Come on people, that's the beauty of this medium!
I found the story quite engaging. It also helped that the cast was first rate. In addition to Sedeikis, it stars Maisie Williams ("Game of Thrones"), Jessica Biel ("Total Recall", "The Illusionist") and the always delightful and underutilized Mary Steenburgen ("Step Brothers", "Gracie and Frankie", "Last Vegas").
Meet Henry Herschel (Sedeikis), a successful super straight-laced architect. He's married to Penney, an energetic, free spirit who's always trying to get her nerdy husband to loosen up and live little. She encourages him to chill, even when it comes to the shoes he wears. One day the couple notice a young girl Millie rummaging through their trash, She appears to be homeless and Penny tells her husband to look after her. Henry is the architect behind an innovative and groundbreaking plan to revitalize the waterfront in New Orleans. While on site presenting his idea to a potential developer he gets a fateful call. He's informed that his wife, who happens to be pregnant, has suffered a fatal car crash.
Needless to say, Henry is devastated. He's just lost the love of his life and he's thrown into an emotional abyss. He mopes around the house and his boss (Paul Reiser) encourages him to take as much time off from work as he needs and return whenever he's ready. He eventually encounters Millie, a sixteen-year old girl who lives by herself in a shack. At first she's very suspicious about Henry. One of the criticisms of the movie is Millie's accent. It's sort of a mix between ghetto slang and Cajun English that's a bit hard to understand at first. But I found it easy to overlook.
We find out that Millie's dad was a dreamer who built a raft when she was a young girl and was lost at sea, somewhere in the Azores. One of her most prized possessions is a diary he kept while he was on his ill-fated venture. She's committed to building a raft of her own to go off in search of him. It's this sense of loss the two main characters share and it's what eventually brings them together.
Henry is quickly on board (pun intended) in helping her build her raft. He engages a couple of real colorful characters to assist in the project. There's Dumbass (Orlando Jones) and Pascal (Richard Robichaux), a goofy-looking guy who doesn't speak English. Dumbass acts as a translator for Pascal, and the couple add some much needed comic relief. While all this is transpiring, Henry's mother-in-law Julia (Steenburgen) pops in from time to time to look after him. At first she's worried that he's losing his marbles, but eventually she comes to the realization that he'll be just fine.
The theme of love, loss, and healing is a common one in both literature and film. I feel it's always interesting to see a fresh take on it. I think the writer and producer Bill Purple has contributed a welcome addition to the collection. If you're looking for another Jason Sedeikis film, I highly recommend, "We're the Millers". It's an adult comedy I recently watched on Netflix that had me laughing out loud. I also enjoyed him in the offbeat sci-fi movie "Downsizing". If you like this review, check out my blog moviejunkiemark. It's on blogspot.
