Proving that positive reviews continue to have relevance in art house and limited releases, “Enough Said” debuted on four screens Wednesday to a strong $27,734 and $6,934 average. That midweek opening has to be very encouraging news for Fox Searchlight. The studio pushed up the release of the dramedy to September in hopes of taking advantage of a dearth in new prestige fare before a slew of awards season contenders hit theaters in October. While director Nicole Holofcener certainly has her fans, it’s the rave reviews from outlets such as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today and the Village Voice that will help drive a higher than expected five-day take. And, sadly, interest in seeing one of the last performances of the late, great James Gandolfini.
One thing critics have been focused on is Holofcener’s unlikely pairing of Gandolfini and Louis-Dreyfus. The veteran actors have great chemistry and Ganfolfini’s “almost” quiet performance helps drive the film’s believable romantic arc. Louis-Dreyfus, on the other hand, demonstrates why her absence from the big screen (she hasn’t appeared in a live action movie since 1997’s “Deconstructing Harry”) is something of a Hollywood crime.
The three-time Emmy Award winner, who is in the middle of shooting the third season of HBO’s “Veep,” has had shoulder promoting “Enough Said” almost completely on her own and she’s done it with professional aplomb. HitFix sat down with the former “Seinfeld” star in Toronto earlier this month and asked her about the collaboration both actors had with Holofcener. For her own character, Louis-Dreyfus wanted a moment “where we see Eva do the right thing. It’s very minor, but it was important for me to see that.”
As for Gandolfini, Louis-Dreyfus recalls, “I think that scene we have in the kitchen when I am trying to keep him from going away? He improvised a lot of that and he was very much thinking about how — not to get to nitty gritty — it was very much on his mind that [his character] been humiliated in front of his daughter and that was particular painful and he wanted to talk about that and that made sense.”
To hear more of Louis-Dreyfus’ thoughts on working with Holofcener and Gandolfini watch the video embedded at the top of this post.
“Enough Said” is now playing in New York and Los Angeles.