Divorce for Dummies

Goodbye to All That would be more enjoyable if Otto (Paul Schneider) weren’t such an idiot. But he is an idiot, and not in a lovable rapscallion way—he’s a dolt. It’s a good thing Schneider is a likable actor. If he weren’t, Goodbye to All That would be on the wrong end of audience goodwill.

For example, in the opening scenes, Otto and his young daughter are in an ATV ripping through the woods. She’s wearing a helmet, but even then it looks like the riding they’re doing could kill someone. They crash, and Otto injures his foot so badly that there’s a question for the rest of the movie as to whether it will be amputated.

If Otto weren’t an idiot, you’d see him following his doctor’s advice. But he keeps reinjuring his foot despite several admonishments from people who know better.

So is it a shock when his wife, Annie (Melanie Lynskey, good as always), leaves him, seemingly out of the blue? He’s stunned, but there’s an idea that he’s been a goof forever and she’s just had enough. For the rest of the movie, we watch Otto make dumb mistakes that no adult should make, all the while thinking what the hell is this man-child’s problem?

Goodbye to All That is similar to the Lynskey-starring Hello I Must Be Going, but without a character who learns. There are funny moments, but nothing to sustain a feature.

Directed by Angus MacLachlan

With Schneider, Lynskey, and Heather Graham

Jean Cocteau Cinema

NR
87 min.