By Jonathan Monovich.
Burns intends on making the Millers artists and is keen to understand that partnerships, like artists, do not always have the spark.”
Writer/Director/Actor Edward Burns has long strived to live by Robert Bresson’s words “make visible what, without you, might perhaps never be seen.”1 His first film, The Brothers McMullen (1995), did just that, carving a niche in exploring a personal story about Irish American brothers and their difficulty grappling with a Catholic upbringing amidst romantic pursuits. The Brothers McMullen won the grand Jury prize at Sundance, and launched Burns’ career like many other 90s filmmakers. For the dialogue heavy McMullen, Burns looked to the films of Woody Allen for influence, citing them as the films he “loved the most.”2 The Allen influence remains obvious in much of Burns’ filmography and continues today, yet Burns puts his own spin on stories that see the comedy in troubled relationships in the Big Apple. Both filmmakers are drawn to having their characters walk, talk, argue, and ponder. Whereas Allen is more concerned with the existential and the “big question,” what is the meaning of life, Burns’ recurring thematic preoccupation is in asking what makes a successful relationship and is the search itself just as important. The closing words of Sidewalks of New York (2001), Burns’ take on Allen’s’ Husbands and Wives (1992), best surmise this—“we’re all searchin’ for that thing [a successful relationship] and we have so much trouble findin’ it, but, who knows, maybe that’s part of the fun of the whole thing.” Burns’ newest film, Millers in Marriage (2024), explores similar ground, but this time the characters are older, wealthier, more miserable, and conversations in parks and on city streets are traded for ones in luxurious condominiums/houses in the country.
Marital problems and dating frustrations have always been central to Burns’ films, though Burns usually also finds a way to simultaneously laugh at these problems that couples face. Such is the case with She’s the One (1996), The Groomsmen (2006), Purple Violets (2007), Newlyweds (2011), and Summer Days, Summer Nights (2018). These, along with the forementioned McMullen and Sidewalks are Burns’ greatest for they grapple with both the humanity and the struggle of monogamy. Burns has flirted with more serious subject matter for No Looking Back (1998), Ash Wednesday (2002), and The Fitzgerald Family Christmas (2012), and Millers in Marriage is most similar to these entries in his oeuvre. In Burns’ memorable autobiography, Independent Ed: Inside A Career of Big Dreams, Little Movies, and the Twelve Best Days of My Life, he professes “the goal has been to make films—my own films—on my terms, the way I have envisioned them, without any interference.”3 Admirably, Burns has stuck true to this and continues to find a way to make the films he wants on the page, behind the camera, and on the screen for modest budgets. Millers in Marriage is most interesting for its ability to seamlessly blend and interconnect the lives of its characters and the complications they share. These characters consist of the Millers, Eve (Gretchen Mol), Maggie (Julianna Margulies), and Andy (Burns), and their partners (both current and former). Eve, is an ex-rock star married to an alcoholic (Patrick Wilson). Maggie is a productive author whose husband (Campbell Scott) suffers from writer’s block. Andy is a painter trying to get away from his wife, Tina (Morena Baccarin). The Millers are all artists, and they’re all tortured (by the presence of their spouses, not their creative endeavors).
In an attempt to alleviate this torture, the Millers are in search of “fresh starts and second chances.” For Eve, she pursues a laidback journalist (Benjamin Bratt). As for her sister, she becomes entangled with the local maintenance man (Brian d’Arcy) at her country getaway. Her brother, on the other hand, falls for an old friend, Renee (Minnie Driver). Structurally, Millers in Marriage happens to be similar to one of Allen’s best—Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). Tonally, Millers in Marriage tends to be more aligned with Allen’s stressful, and more divisive, filmic plays Interiors (1978)/September (1987).Age can be deceptive, and the Millers are still plagued with the immaturity of Burns’ more youthful casts who tend to overanalyze their lives. Per usual, Burns crafts well-written dialogue. There are memorable quotes where characters compare listening to music to time traveling and make toasts to their dreams that never came true. There is also thoughtful consideration of the role that art plays in our lives. Burns intends on making the Millers artists and is keen to understand that partnerships, like artists, do not always have the spark. That being said, partnerships, like art, also require commitment and devotion, which therefore also necessitate sacrifice. Art and relationships are both built on making compromises elsewhere in one’s life. Both art and relationships require tradeoffs, and being a perfect husband/wife can hinder one’s magnum opus, though Burns suggests true love is perhaps the greatest masterpiece if one can find it.
Burns recognizes in Millers in Marriage and has recognized throughout his body of work that everyone has problems, but the problems of Millers in Marriage are unfortunately not as interesting as those of his earlier films. The same can be said about the locations of many of Millers in Marriage’s settings as conversations seem distant, relying too much upon cellphones rather than familiar charming New York City locations like bookstores, pubs, video stores, taxi cabs, and record stores. Burns rationalizes this decision by pointing out in Millers in Marriage that “New York is a young person’s town.” Though Millers in Marriage is not Burns’ best, it has its moments and a piano score that works quite well. Burns has gone back and forth between the comedic and the dramatic over time, but Millers ends up being a little too serious for the payoff. Hearing these middle aged empty nesters ruminate on their lives can eventually become tedious, like the reality of relationships, though there are a few moments that bring smiles and laughter. By the end, viewers will be left yearning for Burns’ “early, funny ones” like Sandy Bates’ fans in Allen’s Stardust Memories (1980). Nonetheless, one can’t help but applaud Burns’ integrity as a true indie filmmaker. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to find new films for aging adults, like Millers, yet Burns has successfully found a way to make Millers encapsulate the films that were far more common during Allen’s prime. Here’s looking forward to the long awaited McMullen sequel.
Millers in Marriage is now in theaters and available on digital via Republic Pictures.
Notes
1. Burns, Edward, and Todd Gold. Independent Ed: Inside a Career of Big Dreams, Little Movies, and the Twelve Best Days of My Life. Gotham Books, 2015, pp. 256.
2. Burns, Independent Ed, pp. 19.
3. Burns, Independent Ed, pp. IX.
Jonathan Monovich is a Chicago-based writer and a regular contributor for Film International. His writing has also been featured in Film Matters, Bright Lights Film Journal, and PopMatters.