Movie Review Post Grad (2009)

Movie Review Post Grad (2009)

Jobless, but Charming



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By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS
Published: August 21, 2009

When someone as fetching as Alexis Bledel can’t get a job — or a decent movie role — then we are officially in the depths of economic recession. As Ryden Malby in “Post Grad,” Ms. Bledel works her “Gilmore Girls” charm to the hilt, but no amount of cerulean-eyed sparkle can transcend this level of thudding mediocrity.
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A promisingly perky opening informs us that Ryden is an ambitious cookie with her future meticulously mapped. But when her dream job at a Los Angeles publishing company goes south, Ryden is forced to return home to her Comedy Writing 101 family: the D.I.Y.-nut dad (poor Michael Keaton), the long-suffering mom (a restrained Jane Lynch), the weird kid brother (Bobby Coleman) and the inappropriate oldster (a painfully frozen Carol Burnett). Rounding out the formula is the hometown boy with the fruitless, flaming torch (the wonderful Zach Gilford from “Friday Night Lights”). No wonder Ryden is drawn to the hot Brazilian neighbor with the slept-in stubble (Rodrigo Santoro): so are we.

A weightless dramedy directed (by Vicky Jenson) without a single imaginative shot or fresh idea, “Post Grad” groans with the familiar: the pop-propelled job-hunting montage, the fallback position with Dad (complete with humiliating uniform). More troubling is a play-safe message to young women that cautions security over risk, comfort over long-held dreams and the nice American boy over the dangerously sexy foreigner. Note to the writer Kelly Fremon: Is Ryden postgraduation or postmortem?

“Post Grad” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Squishy writing and a squished cat.

POST GRAD

Opens on Friday nationwide.

Directed by Vicky Jenson; written by Kelly Fremon; director of photography, Charles Minsky; edited by Dana Congdon; music by Christophe Beck; production designer, Mark Hutman; produced by Ivan Reitman, Joe Medjuck and Jeffrey Clifford; released by Fox Atomic. Running time: 1 hour 29 minutes.

WITH: Alexis Bledel (Ryden Malby), Zach Gilford (Adam Davies), Rodrigo Santoro (David Santiago), Jane Lynch (Carmella Malby), Fred Armisen (Guacanator Pitchman), Bobby Coleman (Hunter Malby), Carol Burnett (Grandma Maureen) and Michael Keaton (Walter Malby).








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