The Bachelors (2017)

Directed by: Kurt Voelker | 99 minutes | comedy, drama | Actors: Odeya Rush, JK Simmons, Jean Louisa Kelly, Harold Perrineau, Julie Delpy, Charlie DePew, Jae Head, Kitana Turnbull, Tyrel Jackson Williams, Josh Wiggins, Spencer List, Tom Amandes, TJ Ramini

Jonathan Kimble – better known by his initials JK – Simmons has been a trusted and esteemed character actor for years. He is typically such an actor whose name sticks out less than his face and who shines mainly in supporting roles, often as an authoritarian figure (fathers, teachers, etc.). While Simmons has plenty of awards to his name, the ultimate crowning achievement of his career came when he won an Oscar in March 2015 for his smashing performance in the music drama ‘Whiplash’ (2014). Of course he also played a supporting role in that film, because Simmons often comes into its own in that film. In ‘The Bachelors’ (2017), written and directed by Kurt Voelker (also the writer of the 2001 Keanu Reeves/Charlize Theron vehicle ‘Sweet November’), Simmons plays the lead for once. Here too he takes on the role of a teacher and a father, but one who is completely cramped by the grief for his deceased wife. Coping with the death of a loved one is never easy, but for Simmons-played Bill Palet and his teenage son Wes (Josh Wiggins), it’s all about survival.

After a long and happy marriage of 33 years, Bill’s wife Jeanie (Kimberly Crandall) suddenly passed away. Bill immediately decides to change course and exchange San Francisco with his son Wes for a rental house in a suburb of Los Angeles. He hopes to be able to cope with the loss of his wife in a new environment. Through his old college friend Paul (Kevin Dunn), he is offered a job at the exclusive boys-only high school, St. Martin’s, where he starts working as a math teacher. Wes also goes to that school. The thread of life seems to have been picked up again, but appearances are deceiving. Both men are still having a hard time with the loss of Jeanie. Bill is in danger of falling into a deep depression. Paul insists that Bill see a psychiatrist, Dr. Rollins (Harold Perrineau), looking up. He gives him medicines, but they don’t help him. Wes makes new friends and, rather reluctantly, joins the school’s athletics team. He suddenly finds school a lot more interesting as soon as he discovers that girls from a nearby school are also present during certain classes. French teacher Carine (Julie Delpy) asks him to tutor one of those girls, Lacy (Odeya Rush). The irritable Lacy has her own problems and Carine hopes to keep an eye on her by pairing her up with the good Wes. In addition, she becomes interested in Bill, who is flattered by all the attention and seems to be breaking out of his negative spiral a bit.

And so, parallel to each other, two romantic subplots develop: one about father and one about son Palet. However, the focus always remains on the grieving process. When Carine goes a little too fast, it becomes clear how much Bill is still preoccupied with Jeanie. He finds it so difficult to leave the past behind that it literally makes him sick. In addition, he has absolutely no eye for how things are going with Wes. Because despite the blossoming contact with Lacy, Wes also has problems coping with the loss of his mother. But perhaps it is even harder for him to see his father go through with his grief. He is afraid that he will soon lose his father, after his mother. He hopes to finally be able to shake his father awake from the past.

Despite its heavy themes (in addition to grieving, for example, also self-mutilation and domestic violence), ‘The Bachelors’ is a feel-good film in which it is clear from the start that the problems that father and son experience will be overcome. But to get there, the necessary hurdles must first be overcome. ‘The Bachelors’ develops in a fairly conventional way and follows the well-known paths. The characters each have their own emotional wounds and whether these can be healed depends on the extent to which they can develop understanding and compassion for the suffering and grief of the other. As predictable as the film is, thanks to the rock-solid acting by the experienced breed actors Simmons and Delpy – who don’t even have to go full throttle to convincingly portray their roles – even a mediocre and saccharine plot like this is fine. Surprisingly strong is young Josh Wiggins, who must find a balance between his budding crush, his grief over the death of his mother and his loyalty to his depressed father in the role of Wes. And then we haven’t even mentioned those typical adolescent problems such as insecurity, wanting to belong and the search for an own identity that he struggles with. Rush also plays a fine role as the hurt Lacy who puts up her spines to avoid showing her vulnerability, but slowly opens up to Wes’s genuine interest.

With ‘The Bachelors’ Kurt Voelker has made a film that goes just a little too well and neatly, despite the enormous amount of misery that the characters get. The film loses strength because we never doubt that everything will turn out well. On the other hand, the acting is very fine across the board; surprisingly, veteran hands Simmons and Delpy are outpaced here by their much younger colleagues Wiggins and Rush.