Title: Alex of Venice
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Chris Messina
Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Derek Luke, Chris Messina
Runtime: 1 hr 26 mins

What It Is: Alex (Winstead) is a workaholic lawyer for an enviromental agency. Right now she’s in the middle of a huge legal battle. Right as that is in the height of it’s importance her husband George (Messina) leaves to “go find himself” leaving Alex with a plate that is overfilled her father (Don Johnson) calls Alex’s sister for help which proves to not be as helpful as she assumed. Now she’s balacing it all. Life, work, and family and she has no help from anyone.

What We Think: This is a great character study of a workaholic. Alex is a likeable character, but I think a lot of that is Winstead’s performance. It deals with interesting concepts in a unique way. Chris Messina directs and supports Mary Elizabeth Winstead and he much like her shines here. It was nice to see Don Johnson back in the saddle and acting. His performance was likewise excellence. My only real gripe with the film was it’s pacing which was consistent but rather slow. It tended to drag on and on. Messina did a great job directing this one. It seemed as if he had a metronome set for the film and he kept it there the whole time.

Our Grade: B-, Winstead’s performance carries this thing. It’s a fascinating character study. Most of the characters are intriguing enough, with one exception…Derek Luke’s character who is the one being sued by Alex just comes and goes nonsensically throughout the film. This can be really jarring in moments. That’s one thread that really kept this thing from ascending any higher than the grade given.