As the cheating husband who drove his wife to a life of comedy in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Michael Zegen proved he can play a cad without losing the audience’s sympathy. By the end of the series, in fact, we were rooting for him almost as much as we were for his joke-telling ex.
In the comedy-drama Notice to Quit, as actor-turned-real estate agent Andy Singer, Zegen again relies on his natural likability. So, it seems, does first-time writer/director Simon Hacker.
Perhaps more than he should.
To be blunt, Hacker gives us almost no reason to cheer for Andy, an ethics-challenged New Yorker who’s down on his luck. To name just one of his vices, he regularly makes extra bucks by stealing appliances out of vacant properties and selling them to a ragtag gang of thugs.
Then, just as Andy is being evicted from his apartment because he’s behind on the rent, 10-year-old daughter Anna (a relatable Kasey Bella Suarez) shows up and wants to spend the day with him. She’s mad because her mom (Andy’s ex) is moving to Florida, and she doesn’t want to go.
So how does Andy react to the presence of the daughter he hasn’t seen in months? Not well. In fact, he doesn’t want to be bothered and unsuccessfully tries to palm her off on his retired father (Robert Klein).
To some extent, it’s understandable that Andy can’t deal with Anna on this day, as he’s desperate to scrape together enough bucks to avoid ending up on the street. Mainly, though, his lack of filial devotion just makes it that much harder to care about him.
That is, it makes it harder for us to care about him. For her part, Anna seems to love her dad and enjoys this rare opportunity to spend time with him. Why? Did they have a close relationship in the past, when her parents were still together?
Hacker’s script never explains, any more than it clarifies just why we’re supposed to see Andy as anything other than a self-centered scumbag. And yet we are, because it quickly becomes obvious that the film has something warm and fuzzy in its long-range sights.
When that something arrives, it lands with all the impact of a wet noodle, both because it was telegraphed well in advance and because it wasn’t earned. It’s clear that Hacker wants us to care about what happens, but it’s equally clear that he doesn’t know how to make us care.
Well, with one exception: He lucked out by casting Zegen as Andy, who retains at least a portion of our sympathy even though he doesn’t deserve it, and Suarez as Anna, the daughter who loves him for no apparent reason. The chemistry these two create is the flick’s main selling point.
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Notice to Quit (PG-13) opens Sept. 27 in theaters nationwide.
