I’ve loved Ed Burns since the Brothers McMullan. He’s still the same rugged, Queens native, tellmeaboutit white guy from fifteen years ago, except now he’s married to a supermodel turned yoga guru and lives less of a humble pie Brooklyn existence and more a Tribeca penthouse, Bubby’s on Sunday existence. But still…
If he wants to be like Woody Allen in the director’s chair, he’s one of the few who’s really not that far off in some respects. You almost wonder how someone who looks like Ed Burns could be intrinsically a lot like his 70-some year old idol. They both churn out a lot of movies that usually involve a combination of New York, relationships and neurosis. Which could be said about a lot of movies, but theirs has the same feel and formula. None of their movies couldn’t exist outside the realm of urban angst.
Newlyweds even looks like a vintage Woody Allen movie poster, and it has a strong cast of unrecognizable actors. Chicken beef. In this film, Buzzy and Katie share a happily detached marriage, the second for each, and make a point of being evolved adults this time around. Until siblings and family trials get stirred into their orderly downtown life. A nutbag sister shows up from L.A. to re-claim an old flame and crashes with them, bringing into question what it means to “do the right thing” by “unchosen” family, while putting your “chosen” family first. This sister is a hot mess who doesn’t garner viewer sympathy at all. She could’ve been written with a little more subtlety. But in the end, her impulsive behavior causes a chain reaction from Buzzy, Katie and even Katie’s sister. It’s a good character study film, and I wish it were a little more signature Ed Burns in the laughs department. But I’m still part of the fan club.
