Management (2009)

I love this movie so much

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Blistering performances.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Jennifer Aniston's movie career has been a bit hit and miss at best. For every 'We're The Millers' there is a 'The Switch'. So with side of the line will this movie fall.Plot in A Paragraph: Mike Flux (Steve Zahn) works at his parents' motel as the night manager. One day he sees Sue (Jennifer Aniston) who is staying at the motel for the weekend, and instantly develops a crush on her. (It's Jennifer Aniston after all)I'll admit from the off, that I am bias. I love Jennifer Aniston. With her gorgeous girl next door looks, I adore her, and will usually give anything she is in a chance.However, one of my main problems with the movie is Aniston, who seems to have had some Botox (or other work) prior to this movie and she is not the normal natural beauty that I like so much. Her performance is off, and she doesn't seen to be having a lot of fun here. None of the main characters in the movie are actually that likable. Zahns character (the guy we are meant to root for) comes off as annoying and a borderline stalker. Whilst Aniston's character is plain unlikeable, (despite helping homeless people) it makes it hard to understand why Zahn is so obsessed with her.Ridiculously predictable, the movie could possibly the worst of Aniston's post 'Friends' career, if 'The Switch' were not so bad.

Mike, the night manager of his parent's Arizona motel, is a loner; he has no life. When we meet him he is living in one of the upstairs room of the complex. Mike suddenly awakens to show emotion, when Sue Classens, a sales rep for motel art work, stops at the inn. She is seen to Mike as a pleasant distraction. The first night he knocks on her door to offer a complimentary bottle of wine, something that puzzles Sue. What does he really want, she wonders. On her second night, he offers her a bottle of champagne. If Sue had doubts about the intentions of this man, she counteracts with her own proposal: Would he like to touch her butt? It is an offer no man could refuse.Sue, in turn, finds herself in a quandary. She is based in Baltimore. She is probably a girl with low self esteem who finds it is safe having sex with Mike on the day she was departing, but little did she think of the consequences of her actions. Mike is smitten. He has to go see her, and if possible stay with her. Sue is not exactly happy to see Mike come back into her life, so she sends him packing back to Arizona. Mike does not give up. When he finds out she has moved to Washington state, he makes it his priority. Unfortunately, Sue has gone back to her ex-punk boyfriend, now a businessman with a yogurt business. Will Mike impress Sue? This is an indie film that came as a surprise when it turned up on a cable channel. Not having seen it, we decided to take a look. Directed and written by Stephen Belber, the film has a combination of styles, but it pays off because it does not pretends to be anything but a small film. The success of "Management" depended heavily on its star, Jennifer Aniston, an underrated actress whose choices always tend to be big studio features which only requires her to be pretty. As she clearly showed in "The Good Girl", it pays to have a good director behind her whom she trusts totally. This is not exactly what one would expect to be one of her first choices, but playing it subtly, Ms. Aniston's work seems to be the best excuse to watch "Management".A tamed Steve Zahn plays Mike with a new perspective, something that pays off for him. The combination of this actor and Ms. Aniston pays in sweet ways. Woody Harrelson does another of his specialties with his Jango, although he is seen briefly. The wonderful Margo Martindale, appears as Mike's mother, but her screen time is only limited. The same goes for Fred Ward, the enigmatic father. Director Stephen Belber does a fine job in his film debut.

Management is a quirky little wish fulfillment fantasy for lonely nice guys that comes completely undone when it brings too many contrived and conventional romantic comedy clichés into the mix. It trades subtlety and dysfunctional realism for overly broad comedy and reaches for meaning that it never really earns.Mike (Steve Zahn) is the night manager at his parents motel. He's the classic 30something guy who still lives like he's in his teens, with no ambition to ever be more than that. Then he falls in love with a woman who checks into the motel one night. Well, Mike actually falls in love with her butt, since he only sees her from behind at first. Sue (Jennifer Aniston) is a traveling saleswoman who doesn't quite know what to make of Mike and his pathetically inept attempts at romance, but she responds to his neediness enough to throw him a roll in the hay before she has to check out. Mike then spends every last dime he has to fly across the country and visit Sue. She's a little taken aback but can't resist his harmless sincerity and indulges his romantic fantasies for a while before sending Mike back to his mom and dad.A tortured long-distance relationship continues for a while but when Mike gets another chance to visit Sue, he learns she's moved all the way across the country to get back together with an old boyfriend. Mike decides to follow her and that's where the story falls down and dies. What had been sweet and original becomes fake and predictable, with Mike even picking up a wacky best friend and indulging in an opaque journey of self-discovery. The movie even ends in a way that makes you wonder if writer/director Stephen Belber forgot what the original point of his story was.The best thing about Management is the acting of Steve Zahn and Jennifer Aniston. Zahn is given a character who behaves like a deranged stalker for most of the film. The script could have made Mike into a serial killer and it wouldn't have been that surprising, but Zahn is able to drain away all of Mike's potentially unsettling creepiness and make him likably pitiful. Aniston gives probably her most nuanced and affecting performance since The Good Girl, playing an unhappy adult who finds some solace with Mike's immature devotion but can't ignore how emotionally stunted he is. You can never forget how unbelievable it is that a well-intentioned but hapless loser like Mike could ever wind up with a successful beauty like Sue, but Zahn and Aniston interact so well that you won't care.Unfortunately, that relationship is largely abandoned for the second half of the movie and it runs through fairly typical rom-com paces. Mike spends far more time with the new wacky best friend the film gives him than he does with Sue, and when the movie does bring Mike and Sue back together it's with a maudlin tone that is out of step with either the sweet, quirky beginning or the broad, almost slapstickish comedy of the middle.Writer/director Belber came up with two great characters and cast two wonderful actors to play them, but then he didn't let their story unfold organically. Instead of letting Mike and Sue experience the limitations of their unequal relationship, Belber wields The Almighty Plot Hammer to keep them apart. So instead of feeling the real pain Mike and Sue would inflict on each other as their romantic dreams collided with reality, there's a bunch of manufactured angst that covers up how unhealthy Mike and Sue's relationship actually is.I mean, a guy knows a woman for 48 hours and decides to fly across the country to see her? She sees him show up at her office and doesn't immediately tell him to get lost? Then after stringing him along, she gets back with an old boyfriend and moves without telling him…and he follows her to her new home on the other side of the country? These are desperate and mean actions, yet Mike and Sue never have to accept or deal with that because the story never allows them too.Zahn and Aniston are great. Management is not.

I did not know what to expect of 'Management' but seeing that Steve Zahn and Jennifer Aniston star in it together, I wanted to see it. 'Management' is an unconventional romantic comedy but not the saccharine glossy kind that Hollywood churns out by dozens every year. Belber's film is rather subtle and atmospheric while also character driven. The humour is dry. In a way it reminded me of '500 Days of Summer' in the way it's treated but 'Management' very much tells its own story.Zahn and Aniston form an odd pair which is one of the other things that attracted me towards these movies. I tend to prefer unusual romantic comedies that centre around odd couples formed by a refreshing pair of actors (such as Matthew Perry and Salma Hayek in 'Fools Rush In' or Johnny Depp and Mary Stuart Masterson in 'Benny and Joon'). Zahn is first rate as the goofy motel manager who was once popular. Aniston delivers a restrained performance showing her growth as an actress. Margo Martindale, Woody Harrelson and James Hiroyuki Liao lend fine support.The execution is wonderful. The soundtrack is terrific and the visuals are photogenic and bring about a lyrical feel. They are suitably underused as to not intrude. The editing, cinematography and light effects are well done.Stephen Belber has made a charming and funny little movie. 'Management' is an underrated little gem.