REVIEW: Seth Rogan, Sarah Silverman Shine in 'Take this Waltz'

I have somewhat of a built in movie reviewer. It lays somewhere within my bladder. If a movie has caught my attention, and I find it compelling and entertaining enough, I will ignore the need to urinate after finishing my second massive Diet Coke, no matter how much it hurts.

Had I known how much I was going to enjoy Take this Waltz, the latest film directed by Toronto’s own wunderkind, Sarah Polley, I would have come to the theatre wearing an adult diaper to ensure that I didn’t miss even one minute of the film’s true to life dialogue, and the gorgeous shots that did for Toronto, what Woody Allen’s To Rome with Love, did for Italy.

I must admit, that as a born and bred Torontonian, I will see any movie in which Toronto is one of the stars. This film starkly and poignantly depicts a sweltering Toronto as the backdrop to a sweltering love affair between Michelle Willams’ Margot and Luke Kirby’s Daniel. The only problem, well, one of the problems with their affair, is that, Margot is married to Lou, portrayed in a kind and all-too-forgiving manner by Seth Rogan.

While Margot clearly loves her husband, as he loves her, their relationship lacks a maturity, and the sexuality that the repressed Margot so desperately needs. As a writer of a chicken cookbook, Rogan touches breasts and thighs regularly, just not the ones belonging to his sexually frustrated wife.

The heat of a beautifully and colourfully lit Toronto is used brilliantly to convey the heat of Margot and Daniel’s unconsumated love affair, particularly a scene in which the two all but perform a sexual underwater ballet, which, despite being under the water, still conveys plenty of heat.

Suffice it to say, the message of the film is that “even new things get old,” a line uttered in the film. Another line, delivered, ironically by an underused Sarah Silverman, to her sister-in-law, Margot: “Life has gaps. You just can’t go crazy trying to fill them.” It’s an ironic moment because Silverman, an alcoholic, has been doing just that for God knows how long.

I must admit, as someone who never before has felt empathy for Seth Rogan, who usually portrays the wise-cracking, crude and pot-smoking asshole, I was shocked and surprised by just how much I wanted to give the big lug a hug after Margot’s eyes – and mind – began to wander.

Take this Waltz, the name of the Leonard Cohen song which plays an important role in the film, is a sometime methodical, always compelling, and beautifully shot film that makes wearing adult diapers perfectly understandable.