Best Sellers (2021)

Dir Lina Roessler

Written by Anthony Grieco

Michael Caine, Aubrey Plaza, Scott Speedman, Ellen Wong, Cary Elwes.

Lucy (Plaza) has been running her father’s book publishing company since he handed it over to her, and with dwindling sales she is in the process of a potential sell to Jack (Speedman). Trying to find a last ditch effort to save her fathers’ legacy, she finds a loophole in an old contract with reclusive writer Harris Shaw (Caine) in which he owes the company a book, and a book signing tour.

Reluctantly, he gives her his only manuscript he has, and it is soon published and the tour begins, but he is cantankerous and refuses to play by her rules. As the weeks go by, their working relationship is strained. Will he play the game? Will she sell the company?

While I didn’t dislike this film, I didn’t fall in love with it either. The characters don’t feel fully formed and while both the leads have done very good work in the past, this is not either of their best work. The tension between them is not developed enough, and the antagonism that Harris shows towards Lucy feels clunky and disingenuous.

While the third act ‘reveal’ in regards to Harris is foreshadowed very early on, it really felt like it was forced emotion to the audience, and it didn’t really work for me. I did enjoy the last minute reveal, which did leave me feeling optimistic for Lucy after the credits rolled.

Elwes, (whose brother and niece are producers on the film) feels woefully underused, and completely either miscast – or miswritten as a pretentious gay book reviewer. His caricature is a little on the nose, and a little regressive, especially in a 2021 mindset.

This was still a lovely film, despite it being a little redundant and ‘been there done that’.

3.5/5