One of the great misfortunes of human life is the fact that much of it is spent in a constant state of worry. Are we doing the right things to reach our potential? Is it too late to start something new, or redo it all? These relatable queries are at the heart of writer-director Michael J. Weithorn’s modestly scaled dramedy “The Best You Can,” an optimistic film that feels truthful about aging, even if it doesn’t say anything we haven’t heard before.
Then again, you can’t really blame a movie for not formulating a brand-new answer to the existential dread around that old question, “How the hell did old age arrive so soon?” (It goes without saying that the definition of “old” depends on whom you ask.) Instead, it feels fairer to acknowledge and praise the lived-in textures that Weithorn fashions, a sense of authenticity that organically emerges thanks in large part to the movie’s real-life couple Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon and their effortless chemistry. Throughout “The Best You Can,” the immensely likable veteran actors make the most of their first co-starring project in more than 20 years (since Nicole Kassell’s “The Woodsman” and Lisa Cholodenko’s “Cavedweller” in 2004), fluently demonstrating that the two of them sharing the screen is something to cherish in and of itself.
Thankfully, Sedgwick and Bacon don’t just rely on their natural ease with one another, but infuse their characters with something real, even though the circumstances that bring them together feel somewhat forced. Sedgwick plays Cynthia, a well-off and established 50-something New York urologist married to someone much older, with earnest candor. Her “older than most people” (as she refers to him in one scene) husband is Warren (the great Judd Hirsch), a brilliant octogenarian who was once a Watergate prosecutor, but is now on the verge of dementia.
In the opening moments of the film, Cynthia sounds like she’s apologizing as she explains the age difference in her marriage at an intimate dinner when Warren is in the bathroom. When they first met, it didn’t matter at all; it just made sense. But as Warren returns just then and heads to the wrong table in a state of confusion, Cynthia doesn’t have to verbally confess that she is now facing a new reality — the realization that her life partner’s life will probably come to an end a lot of sooner than hers has been sinking in.
Enter Bacon’s ruggedly nonchalant Stan, an aimless private security guard trying to reconnect with and support his talented musician daughter Sammi (a charismatic Brittany O’Grady), while not having much of a life of his own, except for the occasional trysts he has with the young CJ (a wonderful but underutilized Olivia Luccardi). Stan and Cynthia meet (maybe even meet cute) when he prevents a robbery at her grand Brooklyn house. It just so happens that Stan has been suffering from an enlarged prostate. What are the odds that he just saved a urologist from a possible catastrophe? Again, it’s all a bit contrived, but the actors own the charming nonsense (along with the cringe of the examination scenes that follow) with humor and warmth.
What comes after is a genuine bond between two fellow dog lovers, one that’s carried across late-night text messages and occasional phone calls, during which they open up the depths of their inner worlds to one another. With one actually funny autocorrect accident, Weithorn’s writing across these texts feels believably flowy — as such, Cynthia and Stan’s connection earns our trust and transforms into something we can’t help but root for. It is then a bummer when an unfortunate message intended for someone else that Cynthia sends him in error briefly interrupts their burgeoning camaraderie. Based on the maturity we witness in these two grown-ups, it doesn’t make a great deal of sense when they can’t healthily address a simple misunderstanding to save their friendship, which often feels like something a little more than a platonic attachment.
But Weithorn fortunately does better elsewhere in introducing Warren’s apprehensive daughter Rosemary (a memorable Heather Burns) in favor of moving her dad to a facility in Cleveland near where she lives. While his new caregiver Pramila (Meera Rohit Kumbhani) tends to the needs of Warren and pretends to be the research assistant he needs to write a Watergate book, Cynthia finds herself on her way to Cleveland to check out the facility. The trip and a wedding party they crash bring Stan and Cynthia closer together romantically. Needless to say, Sedgwick and Bacon reveal something sweetly intimate in their stolen night. As they cut loose and take a break from their lives’ respective ups and downs, Weithorn captures the duo with buoyancy and allure, before the demands of real life catch up to them again.
With lovely, music-filled scenes between Stan and Sammi and a cozy atmosphere throughout, “The Best You Can” concludes on a well-earned and comforting note on the many wonders of the agile human mind, as well as the modest surprises that might find us in unexpected places at any age. None of it is a revelation — though sometimes, the best we can hope from a good movie isn’t a revelation at all, but a reassurance.
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