Pervasive but often overlooked, the female midlife crisis has its day in director J. Mills Goodloe’s Blue Eyed Girl, the story of three sisters who take stock of their lives in the shadow of their father’s waning health.
Writer Marisa Coughlan also stars as Jane, a Minnesotan who moved to Los Angeles chasing her acting dreams but now finds herself married with kids and a career that didn’t turn out the way she had hoped. She’s stuck, estranged from her husband and her purpose. Her father’s (Beau Bridges) supposed suicide attempt brings her back home, where her sisters Alex (Eliza Coupe) and Cici (Bridey Elliott) await with their own dilemmas, but it’s the unexpected reunion with her high school sweetheart, Harrison (Sam Trammell), that upends her; this familiar figure poses as a new lease on life.
The midlife crisis in popular culture has long been the purview of men, so Blue Eyed Girl is a refreshing approach. The questions faced by Jane and her sisters combine for a dense musing on life’s big furniture items like children, career, love, partnership, and how one arranges them all.
“… three sisters who take stock of their lives in the shadow of their father’s waning health …”
Don’t be fooled: Blue Eyed Girl doesn’t pass the Bechdel test, and for a movie dealing with heavy existential fare such as this, it’s quite the cozy diversion. Featuring homey cinematography, fall foliage, and an easy-listening soundtrack, Goodloe’s movie feels like a steaming cup of tea in your hand and a blanket wrapped around your shoulders.
With all these characters, there’s a lot for Goodloe to get around to, and it’s not streamlined storytelling. The movie hustles to satisfy all its storylines, even those of secondary characters, and you wonder if some of that time couldn’t have been better spent. Yet, you won’t begrudge Goodloe his tangents, because Blue Eyed Girl is gifted with a sparkling cast. Coughlan, Coupe, and Elliott evoke that special kind of sibling relationship where moments of naked vulnerability are bracketed by sarcastic jabs, and Bridges is a scene stealer as a twinkle-eyed oldster who forms a bond with a shy nurse (LisaGay Hamilton) struggling to get over the loss of her son.
Blue Eyed Girl is far from subversive, but it deals with sincere subject matter that, for some reason, is underserved by filmmakers. No longer! An easily digestible drama and a satisfying ensemble comedy, it’s a comfort watch that makes a modest grab for more and succeeds.
"…a comfort watch that makes a modest grab for more and succeeds..."
