Necessary Parties

I came across this movie on YouTube, of all places, and watched it one quiet afternoon when I didn't have anything else to do. I must say my expectations were not very high. I was expecting a saccharine, emotional weepie with little in the way of artistic merit. I was pleasantly surprised to be proved wrong. This is actually an intelligently written, well acted and entertaining story. The ending may be a little bit predictable and possibly improbable but the movie itself does a good job of reminding us that there are more than two parties in most divorces and more than just the couple who are splitting up get hurt. The acting is good. Alan Arkin is always a pleasure to watch as is Julie Hegarty (she always comes across as being so nice that it's a mystery why anyone would want to divorce her!) Young Mark-Paul Gosselaar acquits himself very well and I'm sorry he wasn't in more serious movies when he was around this age, instead of those vacuous teen TV shows. There are a few plot elements that don't work, but they're easily overlooked. The soundtrack, such as it is, is awful. Overall though, this is an entertaining and enjoyable movie. It's definitely streets ahead of most made-for-TV offerings.