XX/XY
Directed by: Austin Chick.
Produced by: Isen Robbins & Aimee Schoof.
Written by: Chick.
Director of Photography: Uta Briesewitz.
Edited by: William A. Anderson & Pete Beaudreau.
Music by: The Insects.
Released by: MGM.
Country of Origin: USA. 91 min. Rated: R.
With: Mark Ruffalo, Kathleen Robertson, Maya Stange & Petra Wright.
DVD Features: English & Spanish subtitles. Theatrical Trailer.

Mark Ruffalo’s turn as a petulant man-child Coles Burroughs can’t help but bring to mind his character in You Can Count on Me. This battle-of-the-sexes drama’s revelation is actress Petra Wright as Claire. Coles’ relationship with college student Sam (Stange) begins inauspiciously when they have a drunken three-way with Sam’s friend Thea (Robertson), which ends with Sam crying and jumping out of bed. The film’s first half is loaded with repetitious banal dialogue. Almost every scene begins with, “What do you want to do?” “I don’t know. What do you want to do?” Coles is so determined to have his way at all costs that their relationship is doomed. (Kudos to production designer Judy Becker for Cole’s realistically dilapidated New York City apartment.) Ten years later, Coles is a film director reduced to working in commercials and living with Claire. He runs into the available Sam on the street. At a reunion dinner with Thea, it is obvious to everyone, including Claire, that he still has unresolved feelings for his ex-girlfriend. Cole may be older, but none the wiser. What drives the film towards its conclusion is Claire’s emotional rollercoaster ride as her feelings change from hopeful and confidant to hurt but relieved, and then finally to righteous anger. Wright gets to deliver a monologue that rivals Jean Smart’s in Guinevere. It’s the type of role, think Beatrice Straight’s in Network, that gives the audience a character to care for, as well as adds heats to the film. KT
May 30, 2003