Stories about average people with average problems tend to make for average movies. This is the unfortunate case with Alex of Venice, a very mild drama that’s passable at best, but doesn’t quite have enough charm or humour to flavour the storytelling tofu.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays 30ish-year-old Alex, a suddenly-single mother of one who is dumped with a heap of responsibilities when her husband declares “I can’t be your housewife anymore”. Simple miscommunication is the prime problem-maker in Alex of Venice, one that creeps up again when she chooses to keep her son in the dark about the situation. In fact, Alex is so busy being an attorney for Mother Nature that she complains about having no time for her son, though she somehow makes time to find another man.
Winstead brings a lot to a script that offers little, as do the supporting cast. Katie Nehra in particular jolts every minute she’s in as Alex’s polar-opposite party-girl sister Lily, who believes having sex with only one person at her age is “like, the saddest thing ever.” Don Johnson also delivers as their father who succumbs to a mental health scare – not that anything really comes from this subplot.
Derek Luke is the biggest victim of talent-wasting, playing Alex’s courtroom rival and magnetic new love interest. When things get steamy between them, legal matters are put aside until it’s too late. (Again, simple miscommunication.) Then the movie writes him out as if he’s the asshole even though his motives were granted legitimacy. It’s a confrontation that’s both needless and unsatisfying – two adjectives that ultimately describe Alex of Venice.
