All That She Wants is one of those cutesy titles that I can never quite remember right after seeing a movie. The good news is this one is refreshingly smart and funny with actors you would like to see get together despite their age difference. Plus this film, which had its World Premiere Sunday night at the Toronto International Film Festival is the ultimate Toronto film, all shot in the very city it is premiering, and not even doubling for New York City. It’s all Toronto, and it stars irresistible Canadian Annie Murphy.
It is a modest affair but an engaging one which for the hit and miss romantic comedy genre these days is about all you can ask. The two main leads have to have chemistry and it is nice to report both Murphy who won an Emmy for her delightful work in Schitt’s Creek, and indie stalwart Cooper Raiff really do connect here in the clever plot screenwriter David West Read (a writer on Schitt’s Creek and Murphy’s real life partner) has dreamed up with casting Murphy front of mind.
It is Millennial meets Gen Z and the startling revelation after a one-night in the sack is enough to freak thirty something Emma (Murphy) out big time. But before we get to that we see that Emma is an (aging) late thirties dancer now relegated to embarrassing commercial work, or so it seems. The biological clock is ticking, and to get back to that title ‘all that she wants’ is a baby, but how? She has a dipshit boyfriend (Finn Wittrock in a stock role) in a relationship that is going nowhere, parents (the wonderful veterans Christine Baranski and Bill Irwin) who remind her she is isn’t getting any younger, and a seemingly has-it-all-together sister , Macy (Zosie Mamet) who is having a baby with hubby Drew (John Gemberling).
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But what the hell. She can still party and meets a cute younger guy, Luke (Raiff), a grad student, while out clubbing one night, soon sleeping with him in his dorm room. To her horror it turns out unbenownst to either one of them that she babysat for him when he was just a toddler she called Lukie. Uh, oh. There actually was a little flashback earlier with a clue. Whatever future they have together ends at this embarrassing moment, but actually it doesn’t.
Time passes, seasons change (Christmas is a big factor for part of it), Emma has moved on but Luke just somehow keeps coming back into her life. It all gets a little complicated, and finally maybe, just maybe, little Lukie can be some real help by agreeing to father her child before it is too late for her, nothing more asked of him. This being a romcom first and foremost, you know it doesn’t end there. This pair, years apart, have a past, a present, and maybe a future (?!)
Married directing couple Scarlett Bermingham and Andrew Rhymer know just how to stir this pot without drifting into the cliches of the genre, but still give us what we want and expect. I didn’t expect much, but I got more than I bargained for. These are people I genuinely enjoyed spending time with and Murphy and Raiff are a fine pair. Let’s hope it finds an audience because as far as the filmmakers and stars are concerned right now all that they want is a distributor.
Producers are Tim Headington, Katie Bird Nolan, Theresa Steele Page, Lauren Shelton, and Lindsay Tapscott.
Title: All That She Wants
Festival: Toronto – Special Presentations
Director: Scarlett Bermingham and Andrew Rhymer
Screenplay: David West Read
Cast: Annie Murphy, Cooper Raiff, Zosia Mamet, Christine Baranski, Bill Irwin, John Gemberling, Finn Wittrock.
Running Time: 1 hour and 44 minutes.
Sales Agent: CAA
