Post Grad

When a cast this capable turns in work this mediocre, I'm inclined to blame the director. In this case, Director Vicky Jenson ("Shark Tale" and "Shrek") seems to treat her actors like cartoon characters:

• Michael Keaton ("The Merry Gentleman") is the quirky but (kinda) clever father of our recent college graduate;
• Carol Burnett ("Horton Hears a Who") is a caricature of a repugnant old grandmother;
• Jane Lynch ("Julia and Julia") has her comic talents wasted as the (sorta) sensible mother of our heroine;
• J.K. Simmons ("Juno") is the widowed father of the juvenile lead.

Now let me explain why this movie didn't grab me in the slightest. The two stars of this tepid little project display absolutely NO charisma, nor do they generate any heat on screen. Alexis Bledel ("Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and "Gilmore Girls") is our recent college graduate. We are treated to endless shots of her huge blue eyes as she suffers her way through her first post-graduation encounters with the cold cruel world:

• Her dream job doesn't materialize;
• she loses the apartment she has blithely rented;
• she has to move back home;
• she screws up her relationship with her boyfriend (who seems to be the only friend she has);
• her car gets totaled and...
• her dad kills the neighbor's cat.

Now let's talk about that boyfriend...I wonder if Zach Gilford ("Friday Night Lights") has friends in high places? How else did he get cast? He isn't particularly good looking, his character is inarticulate (but planning to be a lawyer?), and his singing and guitar playing is downright pathetic.

I think I'll forgive them ALL and blame the director.