'Post Grad' gets average grade for script, direction
"Post Grad" is an innocuously pleasant romantic comedy lifted from the constraints of conventionality by the charismatic Alexis Bledel and a comical supporting cast of Michael Keaton, Jane Lynch and Carol Burnett.
Bledel, the young star of the late, great TV series "The Gilmore Girls," plays a post-grad woman with the unlikely name of Ryden Malby. Ever since she was an overachieving girl, Ryden has carefully planned her future, right down to getting her first job at a prestigious L.A.-based publications firm.
Right away, post-grad life doesn't go as expected.
A big truck plows into her car, leaving her stranded on the way to her big job interview.
When she arrives at the firm, all perky and peppered with proper personality, she discovers she's competing with half the graduating classes of a zillion colleges.
Then, horror of horrors! She loses her dream job to that awful Jessica Bard (Catherine Reitman), the same self-absorbed woman who stole the valedictorianship from Ryden back in school.
Poor Ryden is forced to suck up her pride and move in with Dad (Keaton), a goofy guy with a good heart, and Mom (Lynch), a no-holds barred realist, and Grandma Maureen (Burnett), who's too busy planning her funeral to involve herself in present life.
Ryden's childhood best friend Adam (hunky Northwestern grad and Evanston native Zach Gilford) makes it clear that he wants to be more than a platonic buddy.
Way more.
But Ryden doesn't have eyes for Adam. She'd much rather get in a clinch with the sexy Brazilian commercial maker (Rodrigo Santoro) who lives next door.
"Post Grad," the first feature film written by Kelly Freeman, explodes on the silver screen with perfect predictability. Is there anyone with previous moviegoing experience who can't guess the outcome of Ryden's romantic situation and her job status by the ending credits?
"Post Grad" is also the first feature to be solo directed by animator/artist Vicky Jenson, who finds little ticks of cuteness in Freeman's script and squeezes every drop of emotion from it that she can.
A domestic subplot in which Dad helps his son Hunter (Bobby Coleman) construct and race a boxcar ranks as both a dramatic and comical high point. Because it's a simple, sincere and brief detour from Freeman's formulaic road map.
Actually, I would have preferred to see a movie about the comically eccentric secondary characters in "Post Grad," instead of the standard-issue couple consisting of the girl who can't see Mr. Right right under her nose, and the pining guy who can't escape from the Friend Zone.
Stalwart Hollywood character actor J.K. Simmons is wasted in a virtually inconsequential part as Adam's derelict dad, who owns a local food store. Burnett's comic timing hasn't lost a beat, and it's a shame we don't see more of the 76-year-old TV icon.
Gilford's portrait of the quietly suffering Adam is an excellent piece of underplayed charm and abstinence angst. He will not go unnoticed among the ranks of female viewers.
Ultimately, "Post Grad" belongs to Bledel, who elevates the blandest dialogue to levels of freshness, and provides a glimpse of what might have happened to her TV character Rory had she been stuck with a lovably crazy family instead of a lovably witty Lauren Graham.
<p class="factboxheadblack">"Post Grad"</p> <p class="News">Two and a half stars</p> <p class="News"><b>Starring:</b> Alexis Bledel, Zach Gilford, Michael Keaton, Jane Lynch, Carol Burnett, J.K. Simmons</p> <p class="News"><b>Directed by:</b> Vicky Jenson</p> <p class="News"><b>Other:</b> A Fox Searchlight release. Rated PG-13 (language, sexual situations). 88 minutes.</p>