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THE LOST HUSBAND
Director: Vicky Wight Cast: Leslie Bibb, Josh Duhamel, Nora Dunn, Callie Hope Haverda, Roxton Garcia, Herizen F. Guardiola, Sharon Lawrence, Isiah Whitlock Jr. MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:49 Release Date: 4/10/20 (digital & on-demand) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | April 9, 2020 Director Vicky Wight's screenplay for The Lost Husband, based on Katherine Center's novel, keeps changing the dramatic goalposts. At first, it's about a recent widow trying to find regain a sense of normalcy, and then, it's a comedy about a woman from the city trying to adjust to life on her aunt's farm. After that, it's a romance between the woman and the rugged manager of said farm, and a while later, the movie becomes the story of the widow struggling with her anger for how her dead husband left her and their children without anything. By the time Wight lands on the story's final point, which has to do long-kept family secret, the movie has started multiple potential through lines (the woman's relationship with her mother and the idea that she'll take over this farm in the future) and subplots (the woman's daughter being bullied at school and the farm manager's ailing ex-wife), only to sideline all of them with a series of narrative ellipses. It's an unfocused story, which is a shame—not only because there's some promise to each of these little stories, but also because the cast grounds the shifting material with sturdy performances. The widow is Libby (Leslie Bibb), who moves away from Austin, Texas, after becoming fed up with her judgmental mother Marsha (Sharon Lawrence). The destination is a farm run by her aunt Jean (Nora Dunn). James (Josh Duhamel), the farm's manager, teaches Libby the ropes and quickly gets on her nerves—meaning the outcome of this pairing is inevitable. Despite the constant shifts in the narrative's attention, Wight does get one thing right about the story: how life just keeps happening, no matter how much Libby wishes it would give her a break. The most effective scenes here are the ones that don't care about setting up some conflict now, later, or from the past. They just allow Libby and Jean to discuss the grieving process or let the widow and James share a slow dance, while he whispers the lyrics in Libby's ear. Bibb is believable and doesn't oversell the fish-out-of-water joke. Dunn serves as a source of pragmatic comfort, and Duhamel is a minor revelation as the ruggedly charming but wounded farmhand. One just wants to live with these performances and characters, but The Lost Husband has other and too many things on its mind. Copyright © 2020 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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