''And So It Goes'' is a 2014 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film directed by

Rob Reiner Robert Norman Reiner (born March 6, 1947) is an American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence with the role of Michael "Meathead" Stivic on the CBS sitcom ''All in the Family'' (1971–1979), a performanc ...

and written by

Mark Andrus Mark Andrus, born December 13, 1955 in Los Angeles, is an American screenwriter. After receiving a Master of Business Administration from UC Riverside, Andrus decided to take a creative writing class while waiting to hear from the law schools t ...

. The film, which stars

Michael Douglas Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the AF ...

Diane Keaton Diane Keaton ('' née'' Hall, born January 5, 1946) is an American actress and director. She has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over six decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Gl ...

and Sterling Jerins, was released on July 25, 2014. It received mostly negative reviews from critics, and performed modestly at the box office. The film was the second collaboration between Reiner and Douglas, after ''

The American President ''The American President'' is a 1995 American romantic comedy-drama film directed and produced by Rob Reiner and written by Aaron Sorkin. The film stars Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox, and Richard Dreyfuss. In the ...

'' (1995).

Plot

Oren Little (Douglas), a realtor by trade, develops self-absorption, turning his back on his neighbors and shunning the notion of kindness to others. After his wife dies, part of his self-absorption is having no patience for children, not even his own now-adult estranged son. His next-door neighbor, Leah (Keaton), whose own husband has likewise died, never had any children of her own, which leads her to throw her soul and her tears into reviving a singing career that had stagnated. One day, Oren's estranged son Luke suddenly leaves his father in charge of his own ten-year-old daughter Sarah (Sterling Jerins), a granddaughter whom Oren never knew existed. When Luke drops Sarah off at his home, needing his father to take care of her, neither Oren nor Leah, each of whom are lonely souls, have any reason to suspect that Sarah's involvement with their lives will enable them to heal their emotional wounds.

Cast

as Oren Little *

as Leah * Sterling Jerins as Sarah Little *

Annie Parisse Anne Marie Cancelmi (born July 31, 1975), known professionally as Annie Parisse, is an American actress. She portrayed Alexandra Borgia on the drama series '' Law & Order''. Parisse has also starred as Julia Snyder on the soap opera ''As the W ...

as Kate *

as Artie * Albert Jones as Reggie *

Yaya DaCosta Camara DaCosta Johnson (born November 15, 1982), better known as Yaya DaCosta, is an American actress and model. She was the runner-up in Cycle 3 of ''America's Next Top Model''. DaCosta eventually went to star in ABC's daytime drama series ''All ...

as Kennedy * Paloma Guzmán as Selena * Scott Shepherd as Luke Little *

Frances Sternhagen Frances Hussey Sternhagen (born January 13, 1930) is an American actress; she has appeared on- and off-Broadway, in movies, and on TV since the 1950s.Joy, Car"Frances Sternhagen in Talks to Join Company of Broadway Magnolias" Broadway.com, Nov ...

as Claire *

Andy Karl Andy Karl (born August 28, 1974 as Andrew Karl Cesewski) is an American actor and singer, best known for performing in musical theatre. He appeared on Broadway in the original productions of the musical version of ''Groundhog Day'' (for which he ...

as Ted Westburg *

Frankie Valli Francesco Stephen Castelluccio (born May 3, 1934), better known by his stage name Frankie Valli, is an American singer, known as the frontman of the Four Seasons beginning in 1960. He is known for his unusually powerful lead falsetto voice. ...

as Club Owner *

David Aaron Baker David Aaron Baker (born August 14, 1963) is an American actor whose credits stretch across theater, film, television and audiobooks. Biography On Broadway, he is most prominently known for his starring role as "Prince Dauntless" opposite Sarah ...

as David Shaw *

Theo Stockman Theo Stockman (born December 27, 1984) is an American actor and singer, known for his roles in Broadway musicals such as ''Hair'', '' American Idiot'', and ''American Psycho'', numerous roles on television including '' Inside Amy Schumer'', ''High ...

as Russell * Meryl Williams as Rita

Production

Filming began in June 2013 in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. Shooting also took place in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

Music

On December 17, 2013, it was announced that

Marc Shaiman Marc Shaiman (; born October 22, 1959) is an American composer and lyricist for films, television, and theatre, best known for his collaborations with lyricist and director Scott Wittman. He wrote the music and co-wrote the lyrics for the Broadw ...

had composed the music for the film.

Release

The first trailer for the film was released on May 9, 2014. Released on July 25, 2014, the film earned $4,642,329 in its opening weekend. Over its 10-week run, ''And So It Goes'' earned a domestic gross of $15,160,801 and foreign gross of $10,151,586, for a total box-office of $25,312,387, against a production budget of $18,000,000, not including marketing costs.

Reception

''And So It Goes'' received negative reviews from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

it has an approval rating of 18% based on 90 reviews with the consensus: "''And So It Goes'' aims for comedy, but with two talented actors stuck in a half-hearted effort from a once-mighty filmmaker, it ends in unintentional tragedy". On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

it has a weighted average score of 38 out 100 based on 31 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film a grade B+ on scale of A to F. Film critic

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fil ...

gave the film a positive review, saying the film "offers juicy leading roles to stars Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton." Christy Lemire of

Roger Ebert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times' ...

also commended the caliber of Douglas' and Keaton's performances, but gave the film 1.5 stars for its storyline, saying: "Nothing here is a spoiler. The outcome is evident from the poster alone". A ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' review credits "the film's most alive moments" to Keaton, who channels her ''

Annie Hall ''Annie Hall'' is a 1977 American satirical romantic comedy-drama film directed by Woody Allen from a screenplay written by him and Marshall Brickman, and produced by Allen's manager, Charles H. Joffe. The film stars Allen as Alvy Singer, w ...

'' character in both her wardrobe and her singing jazz ballads in a local pub. While ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' review is happy to see "retirement-age characters" being featured in a film, it criticizes the "banal" plot, saying: "the story structure is so fake and so plodding". Film critic

Richard Corliss Richard Nelson Corliss (March 6, 1944 – April 23, 2015) was an American film critic and magazine editor for ''Time''. He focused on movies, with occasional articles on other subjects. He was the former editor-in-chief of ''Film Comment' ...

also gave the film a negative review, saying: "''And So It Goes'' may touch the frayed heartstrings of some older viewers, but it's pretty bad — the failed attempt to Heimlich a venerable movie genre."

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control 2014 films Films directed by Rob Reiner 2014 romantic comedy-drama films American romantic comedy-drama films Films shot in California Films shot in Connecticut Films shot in Greater Manchester Films shot in England Castle Rock Entertainment films Films scored by Marc Shaiman Films about old age 2014 comedy films 2014 drama films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films