And So It Goes - C

Rated PG-13, 97 minutes

Cast is charming, but Reiner's comedy "And So It Goes" feels stale

It's hard to see talented actors going through the motions in second-rate material that doesn't genuinely use their talents well. That is the case with the new Rob Reiner ("When Harry Met Sally") comedy "And So It Goes," starring Oscar-winners Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton. Seeing them together on screen for the first time is a treat, though the well-worn material and stale comedy is beneath their talents. Douglas is obnoxious veteran realtor and widower Oren Little, who wants nothing more than to sell one last house and retire in peace and quiet -- until his estranged son suddenly drops off a granddaughter (Sterling Jerins) to take care of for a few months. Clueless in caring for a sweet nine-year-old, he pawns her off on his sweet neighbor Leah (Keaton) trying to resume life uninterrupted. But little by little, Oren stubbornly learns to open his heart - to his family, to Leah, and to life itself. Charming but way too predictable and overly sentimental, "And So It Goes" seems like a revisionist "When Harry Met Sally" crossed with "As Good As It Gets" (which itself is unsurprising, given that the writer of this film, Mark Andrus, wrote that film too). The odd-couple type dramedy feels forced and too contrived to be believable, in spite of two great actors in Douglas and Keaton, who admittedly make for a charming pairing. Reiner himself has a small part in his own mediocre outing, but the most memorable of all the cast is veteran actress Frances Sternhagen, as the wise-cracking, chain-smoking elderly assistant to Douglas's character. She walks off with the movie, and her one-liners are the most memorable (a waitress tells her to put out a cigarette in a restaurant she says "good for you, honey, you don't need to smoke"). If only the rest of the movie were as good as Sternhagen, then we'd have a nice little summer treat. But as it is "And So It Goes" feels like that stale Cheeto at the bottom of the bag. You may reach for it, but later on you'll wish you hadn't. Unmemorable at best.

Wes's Grade: C