Ex-Husbands
Peter Pearce (Griffin Dunne) is stunned when his elderly father Simon (Richard Benjamin) tells him he's leaving his mother after sixty years of marriage. Six years later, Simon's alone in a nursing home after suffering a stroke, Peter's in denial about his own upcoming divorce and is about to learn more unwanted news when he decides to chill out in Tulum on the same weekend as his elder son Nick's (James Norton, "Nowhere Special") bachelor party despite being begged to postpone his plans by younger son Mickey (Miles Heizer, "Love, Simon") in "Ex-Husbands."
Laura's Review: C-
Writer/director Noah Pritzker's ("Quitters") meandering comedy about three generations of Pearce males going off the rails offers few laughs as they collapse under the weight of their own unhappiness. It's difficult to discern just what point Pritzker is trying to make with a film that feels like it has gotten lost in the woods as the filmmaker tries to work through personal issues and whose title suggests, but fails to live up to, the films of John Cassavetes.
New York City dentist Peter cannot face his parents' split and keeps talking about working out his own thirty-five year marriage when it is clear his wife Maria (Rosanna Arquette) is already moving on (for reasons that are never illuminated). Meanwhile morose Nick waits tables, smokes cigarettes and cancels dinner at dad's at the last minute. Mickey, who's recently come out and is already at dad's, tries to maintain the peace, but even he is horrified when he sees dad board the same plane to Tulum. It's never really made clear just why Peter's done this as he vows to keep his distance and does so until Nick invites him to join the bachelor gang for dinner.
The Tulum excursion, which makes up most of the film, is a shambolic, episodic series of events which add up to little. Peter runs into one of his patients, Sipple (John Ventimiglia, HBO's 'The Sopranos'), as he's checking in and the man insists on taking him to view his latest resort development, then disappears from the film, his only apparent purpose his own callous reason for divorce. A large group of guys gathers at the house Mickey's rented and act aimlessly, Nick hardly engaging. Peter runs into a stranger, Otto (Nate Mann, "Licorice Pizza"), who's getting married on the island and insists Peter rent a car and pick him up the next morning to explore underwater caves, then blows him off, leaving Peter with Eileen (Eisa Davis, HBO's 'Mare of Easttown'), the bride's godmother who is performing the wedding service, but the film's only potentially promising pairing goes unexpectedly sideways. Then Nick admits to Mickey that he and his fiancée, Thea (Rachel Zeiger-Haag, "Cold in July"), are splitting, apparently never having considered the unnecessary expense he's just inflicted on his brother and friends to fete him in Mexico. And Mickey has sex with Nick's married friend Arroyo (Pedro Fontaine) only to feel cheap about it later.
Just when you can't wait for this vacation to be over it is, but things get even worse as Nick rails against his father's cremation wishes because of his own desire that Simon be laid to rest with his mother, demanding his own sons bury him with Maria whose exasperation at this declaration matches ours. His solution is in gruesome bad taste, an epilogue to a movie that has amounted to nothing but a trip down misery lane for all involved, Nick's recitation of Merrit Malloy's 'Epitaph' saying far more than the film itself. Griffin Dunne succeeds, at least, in creating a character study of a decent, if delusional guy, but to what end? "Ex-Husbands" is one slog of a journey.
Robin's Review: C
New York dentist Peter (Griffin Dunne) tries to convince his father (Richard Benjamin) not to divorce his wife of 65 years. Jump ahead six years and dad suffers from dementia, Peter is divorcing after 35 years and books a trip to Tulum, Mexico to escape. But, his two sons and their friends have the same destination in mind for a bachelor party in “”Ex-Husbands.”
Writer-director Noah Pritzker supposedly based his story on his own parents’ marriage coming apart after 35 years. But, that is no excuse for creating an un-funny comedy, crossing generations, dealing with break-ups and coping with said break-ups.
Peter has just signed the divorce papers for his wife Maria (Rosanna Arquette) and is having a hard time coping. He books a getaway to Tulum, Mexico to forget and recharge. Except, his sons, Nick (James Norton), getting married, and Mickey (Miles Heizer) are on the same flight going to the same destination. Coincidence?
Once they land. Peter goes through the pretense of being on his own, Nick, wrought with guilt, invites his dad to the bachelor dinner, where he breaks the news that he and his fiancée, Thea, are splitting. Everyone commiserates and Peter goes off to make new friends.
OK, One problem with the story. Nick assembles his several friends to join him in the celebration of his upcoming marriage. Except, he had already broken up with Thea (she dumped him) and did not tell his friends!? Now, it is established that Nick is having a hard time, both romantically and financially (he’s a barista in a coffee shop), so the trip to Mexico would strap him even more, never mind his friends plopping down a lot of cash for the bachelor party that will never be.
As I think about it, “Ex-Husbands” is the kind of movie that requires you to suspend disbelief…a lot. The story is a series of coincidences that are forced on the viewer without any satisfaction. And, none of the main playersrs have any real charisma or charm, just problems. I have enough issues in my life to allow being bored by these characters’ problems.
Greenwich Entertainment releases "Ex-Husbands" in select theaters on 2/21/25, expanding on 2/28/25.
