Review of Just Write

Amanda (Sherilyn Fenn) is a rising female film star. Her pushy agent, Sidney Stone (JoBeth Williams) is upset, then, to learn that Amanda is not happy with the script of her latest project. Hasn't Sidney made Amanda's career and isn't her co-star to be none other than Brad Pitt? Yet, Amanda insists that her character in the new screenplay is stilted and subtly marginalized. Therefore, when Amanda runs into a Hollywood tour bus guide, Harold (Jeremy Piven) at a bar-for-the-stars, she is excited to learn that he is also a screenwriter! Except, of course, he isn't, but his admiration for her and for film prompts him to tell a little white lie. Amanda begs Harold to read the script and make changes and she will arrange for him to be paid for his work. With his trolley business in financial trouble, thanks to some mismanagement by his partner-father (Alex Rocco), and with the prospect of meeting Amanda again and again, Harold agrees to try. But, can Harold pull off the impossible, that is, fix the screenplay and get Amanda to fall for him, too? This is a lovely story about the good, but poor, guy finding love with a glamorous Hollywood star. Fenn is most lovely, funny and sweet in her role as a glam girl while Piven delivers his usual rapid-fire, good-natured and comic performance as the unlikely suitor. Rocco is fine as the scheming father and Williams is a hoot and a holler as the high-rolling agent. Wallace Shawn has a brief but important role as a fellow agent while Stephanie Miller, now a national talk show hostess, is a stitch as Shawn's reality-checking personal assistant. Then, too, the costumes are terrific, the Hollywood setting very beautiful and the script full of fun, romance and truth about the chaotic world of movie making. Find this flick at once, if you are looking for another entry in the romcom genre. It truly is "just right" for those who are always on the prowl for a feel-great reason to skip the usual household chores.