“Peace, Love, & Misunderstanding” is a 2011 independent film directed by Bruce Beresford that would have better served audiences had it been called “Dullness, Tripe, & Predictability.”
One line into the story and Manhattan lawyer Diane (Catherine Keener) has her world thrust upside down when her husband (Kyle MacLachlan) curtly declares that he wants a divorce. To cope, Diane takes the couple’s two children; college bound cutie Zoe (Elizabeth Olsen – younger sister of the infamous Mary-Kate and Ashley) and socially awkward videographer Jake (Nat Wolff) to visit her eccentric, music loving hippie mother Grace (Jane Fonda) whom she hasn’t seen in twenty years (since the night of her wedding when Diane had Grace arrested for selling marijuana to guests at the reception.)
As the family arrives at the rustic farmhouse, Diane tells her children about the looming divorce. Un-phased, Jake replies “It’s about time.” Grace lives in a rural house, complete with chickens roaming freely about (both outside and in the home) and immediately announces to Diane that she knew of their arrival because of a dream she had.
The rest of the movie plays out in such a campy way it’s nearly unbelievable.
Grace is a typical ’60s flower child who hates war and of course takes the kids to a large protest in the town square (fact checkers must have overlooked that Woodstock, NY has a population of just over six-thousand and since this takes place in 2011, I’m not really sure what war is being protested.)
Love is in the air for all the players involved. Diane quickly falls for furniture woodworker and resident smoothster Jude (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) who uses his guitar and backwoods prowess to loosen up the stringent Diane. “I knew there was some hippie inside of you!” Jude exclaims at one point. “Take it back or I’ll sue for slander,” she retorts. Oh Cupid, you dastardly devil you.
Jake, who is in progress of filming a mysterious video, manages to land the crushes of a local girl his age named Tara (Marissa O’Donnell.) Zoe plays the stereotypical super-liberal college student, so left leaning she makes the Tower of Pisa look like a schoolyard flagpole. Zoe falls for a hunky butcher named Cole (Chace Crawford) but of course has issues with his slaughtering of animals. Chace looks like he literally peeled himself off the pages of Vanity Fair and has no discernible place chopping the hindquarters of cattle in the small town.
“Peace, Love, & Understanding” isn’t a bad movie to watch, it’s just exploding with cheesiness and predictability. Every character is about as transparent as a zip lock bag and the ending scene is so outrageous it would make a Hallmark Channel original film twist in the wind like a tale penned by Rod Serling.
– by Matt Christopher
