GRATEFUL DAD
or endorsement? That’s the question that haunts most of Sofia Coppola’s tales of charismatic-sad-girl pop ennui bumping heads with the bubble-wrapped domains of privilege — and On the Rocks is no exception. Laura (Rashida Jones), a writer in New York, suspects that her husband, Dean (Marlon Wayans), is cheating. Who better to ask for advice than her own emotionally absent playboy dad, Felix (a brashly deviant Bill Murray)? Soon, Felix’s cockamamie ideas for ferreting out the truth about Dean inspire low-fi hijinks that work double-duty as overdue father-daughter bonding time. At some point, though, you start to wonder if the movie knows it’s essentially about a white guy’s vehement but inarticulate dislike for his black son-in-law. Other scenes don’t help: Note a police encounter that, not unusual for Coppola, feels blissfully adrift from reality — this time, to a fault. On the plus side, Murray’s aggressive paternalism — concerned-father chic, but make it psycho — is surprisingly uncomfortable, and the movie is wiser for it.
K.A.C.