Mark Reviews Movies: ODE TO JOY

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Review by Mark Dujsik | August 8, 2019

Max Werner's screenplay for Ode to Joy features a premise that's just weird enough to make us think the movie might be capable of doing something different with the romantic-comedy formula. It ultimately does something slightly different—only the wrong kind of different. The movie makes its inherently sympathetic lead character into a rather unlikeable jerk.

Obviously, Werner and director Jason Winer don't fully recognize this fact. They only make it an issue in terms of keeping apart Charlie (Martin Freeman), a man who suffers from a condition that causes muscle paralysis whenever he feels strong emotions, and Francesca (Morena Baccarin), a woman whose beauty and striking personality threaten to make Charlie feel plenty of strong emotions, as long as possible.

That's the basic joke here—that Charlie, who has had cataplexy since he was a teenager, might fall down and break his neck if Francesca looks at him in a certain way or holds his hand or invites him up to her apartment. Charlie's life has become a game of staying just as miserable as possible, listening to a funeral march on his way to work at the public library, lest the sight of an adorable baby or a cute dog causes an episode of sudden paralysis.

When he meets Francesca at the library, because her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend thinks she won't make a scene there, Charlie talks her through the break-up. After some awkward flirting, they agree to go out on a date.

There could be something to this setup, in seeing how Charlie balances his feelings with his condition. Such a thought, though, assumes that Werner cares about cataplexy as something beyond a quirky story gimmick.

Instead, Charlie convinces Francesca to consider dating his caddish brother Cooper (Jake Lacy). That way, Charlie can keep her close without the risk of being too happy (The thought of her sleeping with his brother makes him just sad enough). He also starts dating Bethany (Melissa Rauch, the sole bright spot of the movie), whose hobbies include making yarn and learning about grains.

In case it isn't clear, here's the problem: Emotionally manipulating two women isn't exactly the most admirable or pleasant behavior of a romantic lead. Ode to Joy tries to make it a matter of survival for Charlie, but that's a tough and, for that matter, pretty unappealing sell on the filmmakers' part.

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