DVD: Enough Said

Nowhere near enough was said by James Gandolfini before he died at the age of 51 in 2013. His monument is of course Tony Soprano, but in this late role he unveiled a charming doughy side as the bruised romantic lead in Nicole Holofcener’s lo-fi autumnal romcom.

Enough Said was conceived as a vehicle for Julia Louis-Dreyfus, formerly of Seinfeld and latterly of Veep. She plays masseuse Eva, who ticks all the genre’s boxes: goofy, kooky, adorable and borderline desperate. She and big slobby Albert (Gandolfini), both with daughters about to desert the nest for college, swiftly laugh each other into bed after meeting at a party. The catch is that at the same party Eva also picks up a new client, a quietly monstrous poet (Catherine Keener) who, it becomes clear, is Albert’s ex. For all Marianne's trash-talking, Eva is too curious not to back out of the liaison. As a scenario to pitch in a meeting it will have worked a treat. Across 90 minutes it doesn’t quite pan out: it feels like an artificial angle at which to come at a tale of middle-aged love and the anxieties of starting all over again. Still, Dreyfus is a bouncy bundle of rictus grins and raucous chortles, Toni Colette gives good sidekick and Gandolfini is huggably dignified, and together they all amble amiably towards the finishing tape.

The movie is dedicated to Gandolfini, so the big disappointment is that the negligible extras makes no big deal of his contribution. Not enough said.

Overleaf: watch the trailer to Enough Said