HOW rare it is to find a romantic comedy that is both romantic and funny but Nicole Holofcner’s bittersweet ‘Enough Said’ manages to pull it off with utter charm.
After meeting at a swanky cocktail party Albert (James Gandolfini) and self-employed masseuse Eva (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) find they have much in common through their easy-going humour, their divorces and the fact that they both have a teenage daughter about to fly the nest to university.
The film explores how finding love later in life comes with its share of emotional baggage, not least the recognition that we have each had our parts to play in the failure of past relationships.
In Enough Said Eva is given a rare insight into Albert’s past relationship failings, and in a bid to protect her own feelings she chooses not to switch off this tap of information.
Ultimately this is a film about taking responsibility for our decisions in a world in which there is no glib forgiveness.
Despite her flawed decision Louis-Dreyfus is an upbeat, always engaging lead whilst Ganolfini, in his penultimate role before his recent death, brings a tenderness and warmth to a role that could not be further removed from Tony Soprano.
Mention also deserves to be made of Catherine Keener’s understated new agey poet Marianne who is perhaps not the positive influence that she first appears to be.
by RUTH DOWDS

PG13, 1hr 33mins

****