Book of Love: a recap

WARNING: I know nothing about writing movie reviews. This post contains all sorts of spoilers so should you still decide to read then on your own head be it.
NOTE: I initially meant for this to be a review. then one of my multitude (read 2) of readers  pointed out that i had given away almost all of the movie so i changed the title to 'recap'. 

David (a beard sporting Simon Baker) is a teacher; he teaches history (focusing rather heavily on Cambodia) at a girl’s school. He is of the cute professor variety and passionate about his teaching material (read Cambodia).

You can talk Cambodia at me any time 

 There is the obligatory crush-interest established early on with one of the girls in his class. (Note: this plot element really doesn’t go anywhere.)  He’s married to Elaine (Frances O'Connor), she’s pretty, petite and an event planner. The movie doesn’t really show her at work though so we will just have to take the movie’s word for it that she plans events for a living.

this was a nice smooshy scene. 

I really like how we were shown the relationship between the couple, and their own personal characteristics with subtle peeks at them just, well, being. There was no exposition; really there was a noticeable lack of conversation into the first quarter of the movie, which was nice. In one of the earlier scenes, Elaine is making ice tea. It looks like it’s a hot day, she’s sucking on an ice cube and then she spits it back into the jug of ice tea. And in that simple gesture we feel that these people have been married for a while, they’re comfortable with each other, and perhaps it’s a bit boring as well. He checks himself in the bathroom and sucks in his gut; she’s shown at her yoga classes doing advanced moves so we know that she’s probably more into fitness than he is. We figure that he was probably quite hunky back when they first met but he’s kinda slipped a little now. I love that about this movie, I love how it allows us to interpret a lot of things  - and it’s not so subtle that you only realize these things after it’s all over, but it’s not in your face enough to be jarring and annoying.  We see them making love, and we also see that she’s the one who usually initiates it. We sense that certain little changes in him may be an unspoken irritant for Elaine.

On the same hot day they go for an ice cream and their server is 15 year old Chet (Gregory Smith). (Earlier on in the movie we are shown that Chet’s a swimmer and that he also gets bullied a bit. Again, these plot threads are not perused.) It’s hot and the air-conditioner in the shop is busted but the kid is still in a sweatshirt so David suggests he take it off and as he laughingly does we glimpse his abs and we notice that Elaine notices too. Oddly, the couple takes him under their wing and he of course being in lust with Elaine from the get go is quick to agree. David is just befriending him – the kids has no family to speak of and no friends either it seems - though I expect Elaine has more than a friendly interest in him. Why anyone would think it’s a good idea for a young couple to hang out with a 15 year old is beyond me. Then one night David sleeps through his wife cheating on him – or rather she would have if it hadn’t started raining – thus waking him up from the hammock where he was sleeping. Then the next morning while he’s waxing lyrical on  oh, say, Cambodia, at school, Chet comes a calling on Elaine and steamy adulterous statutory-rapy sex ensues.

That evening she tells David and he is devastated. The scenes showing David being devastated are handled rather nicely. There’s a scene of him breaking down in school the following day that is just heartbreaking but then, THEN the movie decides, enough of this touchy feely crap, let’s spaz out! And it all goes rapidly downhill from there. David bizarrely decides to keep an earlier promise to Chet for all three of them to go to Disneyland. Why the other two don’t point out that this is sheer madness after everyone’s pretty much had sex with each other is not specified. The movie just decides to show them all looking uncomfortable and Elaine's initial apologetic and shamefaced demeanor slowly turning into disgust at David. Because c’mon, he’s supposed to get upset, get mad, be withdrawn, shout, rant, beat up the kid - any of those reactions - but taking him  to Disneyland wasn't probably what Elaine expected. You don't just say "you fucked my wife" to someone and then in the next breath offer to take them to Disneyland. Anyway, inevitably a fight breaks out, more weirdness ensues, David gets stabbed in the leg and they all go home.

don't. ask. just. don't. 

In the end I think everyone goes their separate ways. There’s a subplot involving a lesbian couple who are close friends with David and Elaine and who want David to be the sperm donor for their baby. This plot thread brings some sort of closure to David and I guess the movie wants the other two to be happy as well so they are shown to be if not happy, at least content, each in their own space.  

This was a Sundance movie, so I did expect it to be quirky. But surely you can make a quirky movie without it descending into the ridiculous and allow the characters to retain at least some of their dignity. There were several really nice moments in the movie; the scene between David and Elaine on the steps, when she sings Book of Love to him, and the whole ‘revealing things instead of talking about it’ element I wrote of before. But in the end, all I took away from the movie was (a) the conviction that Simon Baker should never ever wear any other form of undies besides boxers and (b) people who make indie movies need to realize that weird and unnatural does not equal “woah, neato situation man!”.