charlytully Review of Ira & Abby

Ira & Abby (2006)

On a clear day you can see . . . the Golden Arches!

[7/10 · 1 February 2009]

The protagonist of this film, Ira Black (Chris Messina)--who has two analysts for parents and was preconceived as the glue for their upcoming marriage--is studying to become an analyst himself, and has been in therapy with the same analyst for 12 years. (The movie emphasizes the difference between psychiatrists and analysts, which boils down to: psychiatrists talk, while analysts listen--or daydream, plot infidelities, write their Hannuka cards, etc., etc.) Every day Ira breakfasts at a diner, but can never order by combo number, and always calls back his long-suffering "Greek waiter" (Spiro Malas) multiple times with wishy-washy additions and deletions (Ira never "knows" his own mind). Feeling fat, he decides to join New York City's famed Paris Health Club (actually used extensively as a filming site), where he meets serial nymphomaniac Abby (Jennifer Westfeldt), who always knows her mind--and takes out food exclusively from McDonald's. Beyond being seen with the offerings of the Golden Arches several times (and extolling the virtue of eating your fries while they're fresh and hot), Abby's ad jingle-producing dad Michael Willoughby (Fred Willard) apparently gets a piece of the McDonald's ad account. Maybe the video stores and down-loaders should be required to couple this rental with Morgan Spurlock's SUPERSIZE ME to counteract IRA & ABBY'S clearest message: if you eat at independent restaurants with character you're a neurotic wimp, but if you're loyal to McDonald's you're a fun-loving problem-solver who's good in bed. Hopefully this flick's producers (Declan Baldwin, Ged Dickersin, Ilana Levine, Stu Pollard, Douglas G. Smith, Jennifer Westfeldt, and Brad Zions) are each getting a lifetime of free clogged arteries--oops, I mean free food--from McDonald's.