As a married senior, this was our weekly date movie and a very appropriate one. Instead of romcom, I'd call this one a "rom-dramedy"
Sam & Kate had the novelty of starring the great Oscar-winning Dustin Hoffman (Bill) and Sissy Spacek with their children. Both "courtships" and their preludes were interesting. Nicely intersecting slices of life. Although an ensemble piece, Sam (Jake Hoffman) is probably the main character in the film and has the most screen time. Perhaps ever-so-slightly over-theatrical at times, Jake has otherwise nailed the character and holds our attention. Kate also is interesting and is very mysterious about revealing her back story. Her relationship with her girlfriend and partner Mary at the bookstore is also pleasant. Mary helps facilitate the relationship at every opportunity.
The central relationship between Sam & Kate has good chemistry, the requisite amount of quirkiness and lots of charm. It also has the usual but maddening ghosting periods of relationship movies where nobody says what they are dying to say to the other person and we go to moody musical montages.
The acting of the four leads and the supporting characters range from very good to excellent with one exception, Henry Thomas from ET fame, 40 years later. He's Sam's best friend and a pothead but he's neither realistic nor interesting. On the other hand, even with little to do in a minuscule role, Tyler Labine is delightful
Dustin Hoffman and Sissy Spacek are excellent facilitators as well as developing a delightfully awkward romance of their own until we approach the denouement. Then he discovers that Spacek has a hoarding issue and the story takes a darker turn and also slows down a bit. I won't reveal more other than that the final scenes are very satisfactory.
Sam & Kate had the novelty of starring the great Oscar-winning Dustin Hoffman (Bill) and Sissy Spacek with their children. Both "courtships" and their preludes were interesting. Nicely intersecting slices of life. Although an ensemble piece, Sam (Jake Hoffman) is probably the main character in the film and has the most screen time. Perhaps ever-so-slightly over-theatrical at times, Jake has otherwise nailed the character and holds our attention. Kate also is interesting and is very mysterious about revealing her back story. Her relationship with her girlfriend and partner Mary at the bookstore is also pleasant. Mary helps facilitate the relationship at every opportunity.
The central relationship between Sam & Kate has good chemistry, the requisite amount of quirkiness and lots of charm. It also has the usual but maddening ghosting periods of relationship movies where nobody says what they are dying to say to the other person and we go to moody musical montages.
The acting of the four leads and the supporting characters range from very good to excellent with one exception, Henry Thomas from ET fame, 40 years later. He's Sam's best friend and a pothead but he's neither realistic nor interesting. On the other hand, even with little to do in a minuscule role, Tyler Labine is delightful
Dustin Hoffman and Sissy Spacek are excellent facilitators as well as developing a delightfully awkward romance of their own until we approach the denouement. Then he discovers that Spacek has a hoarding issue and the story takes a darker turn and also slows down a bit. I won't reveal more other than that the final scenes are very satisfactory.