Management

At its confused core, Management is neither the opening low-key romantic comedy nor the second-act slapstick farce it pretends to be. Ignore the unconvincing attempts at sweetness and the gently acoustic soundtrack cues, and the movie turns out to be a psychological horror flick with identity issues.

Maybe writer and first-time feature director Stephen Belber was too close to the material to realize his lead character is more chilling than charming. Steve Zahn plays Mike, the socially inept 38-year-old night manager of an Arizona motel run by his parents. He becomes single-mindedly smitten when Sue (Jennifer Aniston), a seemingly no-nonsense sales rep, checks in. Audiences could be forgiven for thinking "Norman Bates" and hoping Sue doesn't step into the shower.

Mike scurries to Sue's room that evening to present her with a bottle of "complimentary hotel wine." Despite Mike's goofy, less-than-suave leer, Sue is trusting enough not to think "roofies," "potential rapist," or "escaped mental patient." She graciously shares a drink with the overage adolescent before sending him on his way.

The next night, Mike returns with "complimentary hotel champagne." Sue informs him that they are not going to have sex, but she permits him to touch her posterior through her pants as a consolation prize. Guess she figures a girl shouldn't be a complete holdout when it comes to accommodating crazy-eyed stalkers. She goes even further the next morning. In a scene like something out of Penthouse Forum, strait-laced Sue impulsively pushes the unsuspecting Mike into a laundry room and screws him silly before catching her plane back to Maryland.

Embodying the nightmare of every career woman who ever had a misguided out-of-town hookup with a local yokel, Mike flies cross-country and turns up at Sue's workplace expecting a girlfriend experience. Instead of calling 911, Sue lets him sleep over (but not sleep with), then sends him back to Arizona.

Later, things take a bizarre shift when Mike finds out that Sue has gotten back with former boyfriend Jango (Woody Harrelson), a violently intense former punk rocker who now owns a lucrative yogurt company. The script abruptly goes from quietly odd to stupidly over-the-top, like a would-be Wes Anderson vehicle taking a jarring left turn onto Farrelly Brothers boulevard. See Mike parachute into the pool of Sue and Jango's mansion. See Mike and a pothead Chinese waiter serenade Sue one night from a rolling keyboard contraption, a scene that comes off as more "say what?" than Say Anything.

Aniston is watchable enough, and has some good deadpan moments as Sue. Asked by Mike's mother if she comes from a good family, she straightforwardly replies, "No, not really." But most of Management never manages to be much more than misguided.

—James Dawson
05.14.09

After a one-night fling, a motel manager (Steve Zahn) impulsively follows a small-time art dealer (Jennifer Aniston) across the country in this romantic comedy from playwright-turned-director Stephen Belber. Woody Harrelson co-stars as Aniston's wealthy boyfriend in the MGM production. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi