Kino Lorber's If I Were You, Starring Marcia Gay Harden, To DVD On May 7

 
Writer/director Joan Carr-Wiggin’s If I Were You leads the Kino Lorber parade of DVD and Blu-ray product offerings targeted for release during the month of May.   

Streeting on May 7 as a DVD release, this comedy with a touch of drama, stars Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden (Best Supporting Actress winner for Pollock, plus a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Mystic River) and gives new meaning to comedian Steven Wright’s wry observation: “It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it.” 

 

Madelyn (Marcia Gay Harden’s character) discovers that her husband, Paul (Joseph Kell), is fooling around with a much younger woman by the name of Lucy (Leonor Watling — Unconscious, My Mother Likes Women, My Life Without Me, etc.) and decides to follow her home and confront her.   Instead, a comic misadventure ensues and she ends up talking the twit out of killing herself.

The two bond and form a pact that involves them making the romantic decisions for each other — a scheme that Madelyn comes up with as a form of revenge, but in the “small world” of If I Were You that little plan will pay huge dividends as the film progresses.

Lucy is blissfully unaware of Madelyn’s plan or her relationship with Paul, but thinks that Madelyn’s scheme is a splendid idea, which ultimately leads to two really terrific set-ups.   

Leonor Watling and Marcia Gay Harden

The first comes in the form of the two being cast, or should we say “miscast” in a goofy stage production of King Lear.   Madelyn — during a breakdown moment — is selected for the lead role (a “brilliant” idea) and Madelyn suggests that Lucy be cast as the Fool (she sees the irony in that).

The second element that makes this “small world” a devilish delight to “paint” comes when Lucy — the mistress; the fool — comes up with the idea that payback for Madelyn’s cheating husband could come in the form of a lover of her own.   “I didn’t have an affair,” she protests, but Lucy (ever the dimwit) observes: “That’s so easy to fix.”

If I Were You is a bittersweet comedy, where you can’t help but feel the pain of the aging Madelyn — who drinks too much — and despite Lucy’s role in all of it, you just can’t work up much in way of anger towards her … she plays the fool so well and Madelyn ultimately enjoys her friendship.

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report: DVD & Blu-ray Release Report