Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Now Showing: A Life

A Life
Genre: Drama
Director: Ang Lee
Writer: Alex Conn
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Jonah Hill, Olivia Wilde, Matt Bomer, Allison Janney, Jean Dujardin

Plot: William Danson (Jesse Eisenberg) and his wife Laura (Olivia Wilde) are attending an after-party following the premiere of a new play William wrote. William is accosted by many Broadway types who want to shake his hand and be considered for roles in his next play. William notices that Laura has left his side and is off talking to the star of the play, Billy Isaacson (Matt Bomer). William's loudmouth best friend Jonah (Jonah Hill) enters the party joint in hand. A guest looks at him as he blows marijuana smoke around the room, and Jonah announces that it's okay - he has a doctor's note for his night blindness. Jonah pulls out a laminated paper and flashes it at the crowd. William waves over to Jonah. William asks if Jonah has seen where Laura went off to. Jonah says that she's in the bathroom having sex with Broadway star Billy Isaacson. William laughs. Jonah tells William he isn't joking and leads him to the bathrooms where, sure enough, Laura and Billy are having sex. Laura and Billy notice William and Jonah standing there and stop. Laura then coldly tells William that their marriage is over.

Several years prior, William is in college working on an English paper under a tree on campus. He then notices Laura yelling at some other guy. As the guy walks away from her, Laura throws a book at him. William tells her she has a good arm. Laura walks over to him and asks if he has anything to smoke or drink or snort. William pulls out a half-smoked joint. He lights it, takes a puff and offers it to her. Laura sits down next to William and introduces herself.

A few years after college, William and Laura are living together in a small house. Laura tries to get William out of bed, but he's hungover and having trouble waking up. Laura pours a cold glass of water on William's head, which finally gets him out of bed. Now out of bed, William throws on some clothes and drives to his job as an English teacher at the Mountain Behavioral Academy, a high school for juvenile offenders and teenagers with other behavioral problems. When William enters the classroom where two students are in the middle of a fist fight. William breaks up the fight and tells everyone to sit down at their desk. William then notices that the chalkboard reads: MR. DANSON IS A DOOSH. William tells the students that he supposes they might as well start today's class with the correct spelling of the word. He then erases DOOSH and replaces it with DOUCHE. William then collects the class' homework. He tells everyone to read a book quietly while he grades them. As he looks over the papers he becomes frustrated and wants to know why none of them can do their homework correctly. One of the students says it's too hard. William tosses all the homework in the trash.

At the end of the day, Principal Whitman (Allison Janney) enters William's classroom. She tells him that his assignments are too difficult for his students. William explains that he is simply following the state's core guidelines for the grade level. Whitman informs William that most of the students of the school have spent extensive time in juvenile detention centers or have missed extended time due to their personal problems. His students are going to be multiple grade levels behind where they should be and are simply here to get their diplomas so they can get menial jobs, not to study English Lit. in some university setting like he obviously did. She suggests he dumb it down a bit until he gets a better idea of where they're at.

When William gets home he tells Laura about his day and his meeting with the principal. Laura says she never thought she would be happy to be a public school teacher, but she is after hearing all that. She jokes that should never have become a teacher anyway since he doesn't like kids. William comments that teaching English at a lousy alternative school is about all he can do with an English Literature degree, especially since nobody no theater producers have bitten on the new play he has written.

William heads over to Jonah's apartment, which is above the garage at Jonah's parents' garage. Jonah takes out a bong and begins smoking weed. He then passes the bong to William and asks him what's wrong now. William gives Jonah a perplexed look, and Jonah points out that William only ever comes over to his place when he's bothered by something. Jonah vents about work and how far behind all his students are.

William sits in a small off-Broadway theater as actors workshop his latest play. William is approached by the play's producer Antoine Martin (Jean Dujardin). The producer tells William he has some good news, he made with some of his financial backers and showed them the script to William's play. They agreed to put up the money to move the show to a bigger theater closer to the glitz and glamour of Broadway. William is ecstatic and immediately arranges for a celebratory dinner. He invites Laura, Jonah and Antoine. That night they all have drinks over dinner to celebrate the good news.

We are back to William and Jonah watching Billy and Laura having sex in the bathroom. Laura walks out after she tells William their marriage is over. Billy smiles awkwardly at William and Jonah, then leaves the bathroom himself, straightening his tie on the way out. That night, William and Jonah smoke weed on the roof of Jonah's parents house. Jonah once again points out that William only comes over when he is bothered by something, although he at least has a good excuse this time around.

William arrives at the theater the next day to watch them set up for the matinee performance. He sees Laura walk up to the theater with Billy. She gives him a kiss and continues down the street. William waits for her to get down the block before he enters the theater himself.



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