Synopsis
Stinging from the latest of several romantic break-ups, Pandora Isaacs (Tanna Frederick) retreats to the safety of her parents’ ramshackle upstate country house — just 45 minutes from Broadway— where her non-theatrical sister (Julie Davis) and her sister's fiance, a real- estate executive, (Judd Nelson) are also arriving for the weekend and the family's yearly Passover Seder. Family secrets, sibling rivalries, theatrical hysterics and the possibility of true love as rare as a blue bullfrog all emerge.
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Cast
- Tanna FrederickPandora Isaacs
- Judd NelsonJimmy D'Angelo
- Jack HellerGeorge Isaacs
- Diane SalingerVivien Cooper Isaacs
- David ProvalLarry Cooper
- Julie DavisBetsy Isaacs
- Harriet SchockSally Brooks
- Mary CrosbySharon Cooper
- Michael EmilMisha Isaacs
- Simon Orson JaglomWilly Lewis
- 50
The New York Times
Partly reverent, mostly sendup, Just 45 Minutes From Broadway depicts theater folk as those lovably quirky people who can't stop performing in life, for better or worse. This film might be perfect for a preteen acting camp, or anyone whose eyes have that glowing, cultlike spark of the stage-obsessed. - 50
San Francisco Chronicle
In the end, there is something to be said for letting actors loose on a roller-coaster ride, but from time to time, someone needs to be operating the brakes. - 40
Los Angeles Times
An investment in theatrical self-indulgence with diminishing returns. - 40
Village Voice
In an overlong sequence shot to resemble an actual play, the acting feels so forced, the staging so wooden, that it's impossible to be fully engaged in what's actually going on. The actual story is, if not quite rote, certainly nothing new. - 40
The Hollywood Reporter
This Chekhovian-style comedy about a group of neurotic actors endlessly kibitzing during a weekend at a country house might have some appeal for self-absorbed thespians, but "civilians," as they're derisively referred to in the film, will find little of interest here. - 40
Time Out
Eventually, the self-regarding acting clan admits they're only human after all. By then, the audience may want to disown them. - 20
New York Daily News
Though Jaglom intends for us to be charmed by show folk, the amateurish performances and perennially misjudged direction wind up portraying them instead as boundlessly needy narcissists. - 12
Slant Magazine
Henry Jaglom applies what must by now qualify as a tradition of pointless agitation to the disruption of theater. Unsurprisingly, the results are disastrous.
