"Eva’s blossoming relationship with Albert, played by Gandolfini with ample doses of charm and warmth, sits at the core of the film"

Enough Said is a new midlife rom-com by written and directed Nicole Holofcener, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the late James Gandolfini, Catherine Keener, and Toni Collette. The story unfolds through the eyes of masseuse Eva (Louis-Dreyfus), a warm-hearted woman looking for answers as she navigates life post-divorce and an impending empty nest.

Eva seems to be giving much more than she gets as we follow her day through of a number of self-centred clients. This changes when she meets Television Archive Curator Albert and poet Marianne separately at the same party. In Marianne, she finds a thrilling new friend whose vibrancy could expand Eva’s world or whose cold narcissism could help Eva appreciate the warmth in her less glamorous life.

Eva’s blossoming relationship with Albert, played by Gandolfini with ample doses of charm and warmth, sits at the core of the film. Albert is overweight and somewhat disorganised but his concerns and humour match Eva’s and she easily finds herself falling for him. Until, that is, some contrived triangulation draws someone from Albert’s past towards Eva and, egged on stories of his previous bad behaviour, she begins to pick him apart bit by bit. 

It is in these convoluted machinations, which seem unnecessary to what could have been a perfectly satisfying sweet midlife love story, that Enough Said falls apart a little. The films other weakness lies in the dialogue and characterisation. Though there are occasional winning turns of phrase, the majority handed to Albert including ‘I was raised like a veal — put in a dark room, fed and told not to move’, most of the script is highly predictable and the ensemble of middle-aged neurotics tread very familiar territory. Enough Said remains, though, a very watchable and very charming film; a touch of warmth for the beginning of autumn.