Michael Keaton is having a moment right now. After the much-hyped Beetlejuice Beetlejuice the veteran actor is back on our screens in the gentle dramedy Goodrich. In the hands of writer-director Hallie Meyers-Shyer (Home Again), Keaton gets the chance to display his talents without make-up and catch-phrases.
Goodrich is an almost-Christmas movie. Even though no jolly man in a red suit appears, the events in the film take place in the lead-up to Christmas Day. It also taps heavily into themes of family and belonging that tend to resonate towards the end of the year. That said, it’s not a movie for kids – not because of any questionable content, but because its deliberate pacing and focus on the adult characters is likely to bore them.
Keaton plays the eponymous Andy Goodrich. He’s an LA art gallery owner with a complicated family situation. The film opens with his second wife Naomi (Laura Benanti) calling him to say she’s checked herself into rehab to deal with an addiction to prescription medications. Andy is shocked – mainly because he hasn’t even noticed Naomi’s problem. He spends his days at his gallery and most nights out trying to schmooze clients. And Naomi goes a step further, telling Andy she’s leaving him.
His wife’s sudden “disappearance” from his life means Andy has to somehow cope with his nine-year-old twins Billie (Vivien Lyra Blair) and Mose (Jacob Kopera). Things get off to a rocky start. So Andy turns to Grace (Mila Kunis), his daughter from his first marriage. She’s heavily pregnant but grudgingly steps up to help Andy out. Soon Andy is getting the hang of school drop-offs and bedtime routines.
But his increased home time is having an effect at work. The gallery was already struggling before all this. Andy’s business partner Cy (Kevin Pollack) and accountant Greg (Andrew Leeds) urge him to rationalise the business – including cutting staff and shifting premises. But Andy doesn’t want to think like that. He pins his hopes on winning the contract to represent a significant (and recently deceased) artist. But that will mean winning over the artist’s daughter Lola (Carmen Ejogo).
Meyers-Shyer’s script rides a tricky line. It’s mostly very sharp in its observations of a man adrift in the world, looking for something to cling to. But it also almost veers into a flat spin in the later stages when sentiment starts to overwhelm it. The final scenes though serve to pull it back from the brink of all-out schmaltz. It’s also noticeable that, for all his troubles, Andy is rich (perhaps there’s a clue in his name?). Which raises a question about how those without his resources would cope in the same situation. That however is something the film doesn’t engage with. Meyers-Shyer makes a strange directorial choice in having the characters often say the same thing three or more times. I’m not quite sure what its purpose was, but it was jarring enough that I noticed it.
DOP Jamie Ramsay (All of Us Strangers) and production designer Richard Bloom (Bullet Train) infuse the film with a luxe feel. The art, the clothes, the architecture, even the school rooms are on point. It’s almost like 2024 Los Angeles, if it had been imagined by Slim Aarons. Christopher Willis (The Death of Stalin) provides a whimsical but unobtrusive score.
Michael Keaton does much of the heavy lifting in the film, and shines in the lead role. Even when the script hands him lemons, he seems to be able to make lemonade. Fellow Oscar winner Mila Kunis (The Spy Who Dumped Me) provides solid support as Grace. Meyers-Shyer was a child actor back in the day, appearing in movies like Father of the Bride II and The Parent Trap. So it might not be all that surprising that Jacob Kopera and (especially) Vivien Lyra Blair get a lot of screen time as Andy’s children. A variety of “name” actors – including Andie McDowell – pop up in smaller roles, but I was impressed with Michael Urie (Maestro) as Terry, a single dad whose son is friends with Andy’s kids.
Goodrich is an accomplished and understated holiday-adjacent movie. It doesn’t hit every note it tries to reach, but it certainly makes the effort. Perhaps the talent elevates the material more than it really deserves, but it remains a pleasant comedic-drama with a few stand-out moments.
David Edwards
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David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb and a contributor on film and television