The Meddler Review

Susan Sarandon, currently in her fifth straight decade of acting prominently in American cinema, may be one of the great underappreciated legends of Hollywood. Not only is there real versatility in the types of roles she typically plays (she's appeared in everything from George Miller & Ridley Scott dramas to two separate Lonely Island music videos), but it's also hard to think of a movie where she "phoned it in" if you will. Hell, even in garbage like Tammy she manages to score a laugh or two (though I freely admit I haven't seen critically reviled films where she only had a small role to work with like That's My Boy and The Big Wedding).

So it's no surprise to see her considerable talents being once again more than noticeable in her newest motion picture, The Meddler, which comes courtesy of writer/director Lorene Scafaria. Here, Sarandon plays Marnie, a recently widowed woman whose got tons of money to spare (the cash came from her aforementioned husband) and a void in her life to fill. She has this burning desire to feel useful, which she attempts to satiate by becoming extremely involved in every little matter of her daughter's life.

That daughter, Lori (Rose Byrne), is heading off to New York City to work on a TV show, meaning Marnie will have to find another way to keep herself busy. From there, the plot revolves around Marnie interacting with a variety of individuals to keep herself preoccupied. Among the individuals in question are Apple Store employee Freddy (Jerrod Carmichael), Jillian (Cecily Strong) and retired police officer turned chicken aficionado Zipper. It's a very basic no-frills plotline, but it's hard to quarrel with the straightforward nature of The Meddler considering how consistently pleasant it is to watch.

Lorene Scafaria's screenplay and Susan Sarandon's performance merge to make our lead character a winning creation, which I found to be a relief since it's easy to imagine (and even become my fear in the first few minutes of the movie) that Marnie was gonna turn into a one-note stereotype, a pestering paternal figure too stylized in her helpful tendencies to become truly investable on a dramatic level. Thankfully, Sarandon gives Marnie a warm touch that allows the character to feel acutely authentic while the script smartly gives her numerous other facets to her personality (I love that Marnie has a love for action movies) to enhance that aforementioned sense of genuineness.

There's a lot of smart decisions on a character level to be found in the script for The Meddler, especially in the dynamic between Lori and Marnie, which is another element of the feature that could have been overwhelmed by conventionality in the wrong hands. The more leisurely pace of the film is another notable writing virtue, even if it leaves certain sub-plots (such as Marnie coming to terms with what to do with the ashes of her husband and the real-life similarities to be found in Lori's TV show) feeling notably underdeveloped and their eventual emotional climax overtly subpar.

By the same token though, that restful spirit in The Meddler is hard to deny, especially since it helps solidify the mundaneness that's crept in Marnie's life since her husband left. On the actor's side of things, Rose Byrne does well as a troubled but determined presence in her supporting role, even if it took me some time to adjust to her American accent. J.K. Simmons, meanwhile, amusingly channels Sam Elliot in his Southern-twanged role that allows him to have some fun chemistry with Sarandon. Actually, the cute scenes between those two alone are enough to make The Meddler a pleasant time.