Clint’s seen Kutcher’s Personal Effects

In his latest film, Ashton Kutcher is an despondent small-town loner, stuck doing dead-end jobs, whose forced to decide between reigniting the career he believes he could have sans distractions, or staying put with the older woman he’s fallen head over heels in love with.

And who says art don’t imitate life to a tee in the movies?

Kutcher is incredibly good in “Personal Effects” and it could be because he’s playing someone not too far removed from himself. His forlorn Walter may be appreciably less chipper than the disreputably hot-wired young actor, but he’s also someone whose found himself irrefutably attracted to an older woman (in the film, it’s Michelle Pfeiffer, in real life, it’s Demi Moore) – and someone whose career might suffer as a result of the tryst (well, you haven’t seen much of the boy of late, have you? Is he too busy making school lunches?). Kutcher’s had to make some crucial decisions over the past few years, and it reflects in his seemingly wearing performance here. And those this isn’t so much a movie about finger-pointing and defying the odds, it’s definitely a feature that, as a whole, would’ve hit home with the actor. He’s bought a lot of himself to the movie and it plays better because of that.

Writer/director David Hollander’s film tells of two grieving people, 24-year-old Walter (Kutcher) and the ‘much older’ Linda (Michelle Pfeiffer), who hook up after meeting in a counselling class. He’s a championship wrestler who has returned home to support his mother and niece after his sister’s murder. She’s a widow whose last husband was murdered in cold blood by someone they knew. She’s been left to raise their deaf son alone, he’s been forced to dress up in a chicken costume to make ends meet. Needless to say, they’re both in need of a cuddle and constant companionship.

Kutcher and Pfeiffer (in her second movie of recent times that’s seen her play an older woman who falls in love with a younger man – the other being “I Could Never Be Your Woman” with Paul Rudd) work well together here. The sparks mightn’t be flying off the screen, and there’s nothing very ‘hot’ about their on-screen relationship, but as a couple they do seem to work.

Pfeiffer, needless to say, is as good as ever. She may have even have forced Kutcher to lift his game. He’s not required to do a lot in this fluffy studio comedies he’s usually to be found in – well, besides, shout and bounce around a lot – so pulling back, letting it out, and letting his fists clench automatically would’ve been a stretch. She’s so divine though – and still as beautiful as ever – that what man wouldn’t want to be his best, and give it his all, around her?

Well, Hollander for one. He’s the weak link. His characters don’t evolve as much as the audience would like them to, and there’s a few loose ends that aren’t tied up by film’s end. He also seems a bit unsure as to what movie he’s trying to make – does he want “Random Hearts”? or is he after “Up Close and Personal” with a dash of Clint Eastwood’s latest in there? Hollander’s been working in TV drama’s – largely the short-lived “Heartland”, a doctor drama starring Treat Williams as a despondent surgeon – and he’s treated this a little bit like one of an episode of one of those shows. It’s not that he goes histrionic, or sinks too much into hokey soap land, but he might be trying to do much in too short a time…. Like writers tend to do when they’re trying to sell an audience on a pilot (the more going on, the merrier in that case). It needed to be a bit more organic. One minute it’s a relationship drama about two people at different stages in their lives, the next it’s flashing back to the courtroom – to pick up the story of the murdered sister.

The performances save it from being too messy an affair though – and as I said, this is a showcase for Kutcher, as well as a reminder that Michelle Pfeiffer’s still one of the best actresses working in Hollywood today.

Look, this isn’t a very uplifting movie, and in fact, like “Gran Torino”, might actually lead to an increase in pill prescriptions just because it’s so damn depressing (and real) at times. There is a bit of a light at the end of this one’s tunnel, but it’s not a blinding one. And that just another reminder of how real Hollander wants this thing to play.