BEING GAVIN

Stars: Jamie Oxenbould, Catherine Moore, Kate Raison, Ed Oxenbould, Brian Meegan and Ray Meagher.
Writers: Mark Kilmurry and Sara Bovolenta.
Director: Owen Elliott and Mark Kilmurry.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

Back before superheroes and their teen fanbase ruled the box office, studios made movies for grown-ups. Names like George Segal and Walther Matthau and Dudley Moore starred in movies about marriage, infidelity and midlife crises that were funny, sad and smart. They stopped making them when the star system faded and the audience grew younger, despite being box office gold and Oscar friendly in their heyday.

Being Gavin harkens back to films like Cactus Flower (1969, with Matthau), A Touch of Class (1973, with Segal) and 10 (1979, with Moore), in which comfortably married, middle-class husbands complicate their lives by taking vibrant young lovers who complicate arrangements by falling in love. Directors Owen Elliott (helming his first feature since the acclaimed Bathing Franky in 2012) and Mark Kilmurry have crafted a contemporary, re-energised spin on a genre most considered dated, even moribund.

The titular ‘Gavin’ is the owner of a struggling cafe inherited from his ageing father (Ray Meagher). His life changes one morning when, like a personality whirlwind, struggling singer Samantha (a lovably boisterous Catherine Moore) presents herself as the life force that Gavin didn’t know he needed. Despite their wildly divergent individualism (a genre trope, to be fair) and his patchy bedroom skills, Gavin and Samantha bond with promise of much loveliness to come.

But the co-directors have a second-act twist that puts pressure on both the lovebirds and his narrative. Gavin is in a 22-year marriage, not to some some shrill ballbreaker as might have been the case four decades ago when the genre was soaring, but to Elaine (Kate Raison), a caring wife and mother, successful professional and totally undeserving of the grief that Gavin’s actions make inevitable. As Gavin’s actions become comically frantic, and with his life twisting in on itself through his lack of responsibility and awareness, Being Gavin takes on a somewhat bittersweet trajectory; things aren’t going to end well for anyone, but let’s hope it’ll be fun getting there anyway.

Gavin is played by Jamie Oxenbould, a likable journeyman actor who has earned his leading man status after decades as a respected ensemble player. He has some lovely scenes opposite his real-life son Ed Oxenbould (Paper Planes, 2014; The Visit, 2015) who plays surly teen Josh. Notably, Oxenbould Snr. channels that other significant figure of the 'reluctant philanderer' genre, Woody Allen, with a performance that mirrors the comedian's breathy delivery and nervous energy. 

The directing team also takes cues from Allen's late ‘80s oeuvre, films such as Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Another Woman (1988), Crimes and Misdemeanours (1989) and Husbands and Wives (1992); works that tackled similar themes and revealed the maturing of the Oscar winner as an insightful observer of human foibles. There is further evidence of Elliott's and Kilmurry's fondness for Allen’s classics, with a shot of fireworks against Sydney’s skyline a homage to Manhattan (1979) and the use of Allen’s iconic Windsor Light credit font.        

If the first-act meet-cute machinations feel pitched a bit high, the dramatic developments and satisfying denouement provide Gavin’s re-emergence with a heartfelt honesty. Just as importantly, the film honours Elaine and Samantha in its truthful depiction of how they love, cope with and ultimately rise above Gavin’s flaws. Being Gavin grows wiser and smarter in line with its protagonist, shifting from fidgety shallowness to self-aware maturity in a narrative arc as wholly refreshing as it is delightfully old-fashioned.

Photo credits: 76 Pictures Pty. Ltd.