Movie Review: An “Open” Marriage dissected in Song

“Open” is an “open marriage melodrama complete with “rules” that are broken, celebrity, an unplanned pregnancy and stalking.

But the hook here is that writer, director and co-star Miles Doleac imagines our heroine, played by his wife and co-star Lindsay Anne Williams, dreaming about the principals in this messy menage as members of a band, with all of them in ’80s bandwear and her the most dolled-up of all.

“I’m open for anything,” our rocker-in-her-dreams croons, “except pain.” Later, she changes her tune.

“This isn’t what I thought it would be.”

And “The truth will set you free,” she goes on. “Truth, you mother-f—-r.”

The Boss couldn’t have put it better.

It’s pretty bad, a listless, no-energy quickie about Kristina and Robert (Williams and Doleac), months into their trial co-habitation separation (“Swingers,” somebody jokes. But “swingers” have more fun than this.). She dates a fading TV star Erik LaRue (Jeremy London, who did years on TV’s “I’ll Fly Away”), ends up getting tipsy and breaks the “no sleep-overs” rule she and Robert had.

As first Erik and then Kristina try to break it off, things turn stalky, acting teacher Robert, friends (Elena Sanchez, Amber Reign Smith) become more than bystanders and a policeman relative of one friend (William Forsythe) gets involved.

And every so often, there’s another song, or bickering in the band as Erik and others get added to its lineup. Again, all that is in Kristina’s dreams.

The songs aren’t that good, but they fall well short of terrible. The acting is more indifferent than bad, the direction lackluster and the scripted proceedings are cheesy enough to earn a National Dairy Council seal of approval. And that’s case closed on “Open.”

Rating: unrated, nudity, some violence, profanity

Cast: Lindsay Anne Williams, Jeremy London, Miles Doleac, Amber Reign Smith, Elena Sanchez and William Forsythe.

Credits:Directed by Miles Doleac, scripted by Miles Doleac and Lindsay Anne Williams. A Virgil Films release.

Running time: 1:58

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About Roger Moore

Movie Critic, formerly with McClatchy-Tribune News Service, Orlando Sentinel, published in Spin Magazine, The World and now published here, Orlando Magazine, Autoweek Magazine
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