JULIET, NAKED (2018)

[Frayed Knot]

Rom-Com adapted from the 2009 Nick Hornby novel, one where Hornby plows some familiar ground for him of relationships, music, and relationships through music.


Annie and Duncan live together in a small, nothing-ever-happens-here seaside town in England. But they’re in a rut and Annie is starting to think that maybe her time with Duncan have been wasted years due in no small part to him spending much of his time obsessing over, and running a chatroom about, an obscure American rock star and the supposed masterpiece album ‘Juliet’ he recorded many years earlier prior to dropping off the face of the earth. (a bunch of dudes spending all their time on line discussing a single topic … what a bunch of losers!!)
But then a bootlegged, alternate version of the album -- dubbed 'Juliet, Naked' by the obsessed fan boyz for it's stripped-down version of the songs -- shows up in the mail and nothing will ever be the same.

Rose Byrne & Chris O’Dowd as the couple, with Ethan Hawke as the mysterious musician Tucker Crowe

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

is there nudity?

[Frayed Knot]

Only the songs are naked, and you don't really hear those anyway. Nor, by the way, is there anyone in it named Juliet.
So just like Alice's Restaurant is not the name of the restaurant it's just the name of the song, Juliet naked is just the name of the movie.

[Vic Sage]

I enjoyed the book.
Ethan Hawke? maybe.

[Frayed Knot]

I enjoyed the book as well, and I think the movie did it justice.
Funny at times, charming in others, faithful to the story with a few added notions.
The two leads are good, and Hawke is fine as the re-emergent object of Duncan's obsession.
He of course doesn't have to pull off 'Rock Star', merely a middle-aged, one-time brooding singer-songwriter type with more than his share of flaws.
His character does sing once although does a Kinks tune rather than one of his own.