Though NBC’s Parks and Recreation will always be fondly remembered, its first few seasons weren’t as polished and sharp as the show eventually became. By season three, the writers had trimmed the fat, found their voice and honed in on the tone and humor that made the show the most consistently funny, endearing thing on television. Paul Schneider’s Mark Brandanawicz—a charming smart-ass, excised at the end of season two—was a casualty in the show’s journey to find its confidence. Despite being given weighty arcs, his brand of cynical comedic acting never quite jived with the whimsical, optimistic tone of the show. But Schneider’s new film Goodbye to All That, proves he’s able to juggle both comedy and drama, and his easy charm and dopey kindness carry the weight of this coming-of-(middle)-age dramedey.
Goodbye to All That, written and directed by Angus McLachlan, is a post-divorce character study, held together through a very loose narrative structure. After his wife (Melanie Lynskey), a cold shrewish caricature (more on the film’s broad-stroke depictions of middle-aged women later), announces she wants a divorce, Otto (Schneider) finds himself unwillingly single and must strike a balance between his new found sexual freedom and being a father to his daughter Edie (Audrey P. Scott). The film’s strongest moments are between Otto and Edie, a relationship that the film never takes for granted or examines through a cynical gaze. And for her part, Scott is an actress who, at such a young age, has great instincts and settles into her supporting role with ease.
There’s a lack of structure that could prove problematic in other films; but Goodbye to All That’s aimless, meandering composition compliments Otto’s struggle in adjusting from an organized—though boring—past into an unstructured and uncertain future. But where the film falls short is in its treatment of other characters outside of Otto and Edie’s circle. Otto encounters a series of women, each different from the next, and each embodying cliche stereotypes of what middle-aged women look like. There is his wife: the shrew. Heather Graham plays a sexually adventurous women whose previous relationships have left her jaded towards love. Then there’s Debbie Spangler (Anna Camp) who despite getting the film’s biggest laughs—she’s nearly incapable of not referring to herself as Debbie Spangler, even during sex—is a woman who wafts between extreme sex-positivity and extreme (religious induced) sexual shame. It’s not that these archetypes aren’t allowed, it’s that in Goodbye to All That, these women are defined solely by them. Though there’s more good than bad in Goodbye to All That, its inability to flesh out even one of the peripheral characters leaves a recognizable void.
But despite Goodbye to All That’s shallow representation of women, it is a kind-hearted film that effectively deals with divorce without ever being maudlin or dismissive. Its good-natured humor in the face of a devastating life crisis is raw and entertaining and gives the film a long leash when it comes time to forgiving its missteps and follies.
Score: 6/10
Craig is a writer living in north Florida with his wife and ornery dog. He writes about film and TV. He creates and publishes comic books under the label Gentleman Baby Comics. He's currently wishing his bio sounded more engaging.