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For Grover, this culminates in an achingly beautiful monologue addressed by him towards an airline ticket agent as he passionately, awkwardly and emphatically explains why she must find an empty seat for him on the shuttle flight that will help get him on his way to Prague to reunite with Jane. Baumbach cuts to the agent (Jessica Hecht, Ross’ ex-wife on Friends) only twice during the exchange but each time the cut is perfect, finding first her disbelief at Grover’s outpouring, and then the most perfect of conspiratorial smiles as she resolves to help him. The wistful punchline to the scene (which I will not spoil for those unfamiliar with the film) is both an appropriately ironic kicker and completely in keeping with what the audience has observed about Grover throughout the film.

Baumbach also ends the film with a perfect edit and cut to black, one that always catches me off guard, out of the final Grover/Jane flashback scene (the film ends amusingly, in slightly flustered silence) and in to Freedy Johnston’s gorgeous 1994 pop song “Bad Reputation” off his aching and romantic LP, This Perfect World, from the same year. Johnston’s song, which also employs nimble wordplay in the service of a tale of lost love, may be one of the most exquisite pairings of film closing credit song that I can think of.

Watching Kicking and Screaming nowadays can still dredge up feelings akin to the ones inspired by those dreams (that I still occasionally have) where it’s the end of the semester and you only now realize you haven’t attended any of your classes. With his first film Baumbach aimed for a “so funny it hurts” approach (which has since shaded over in to the similar but even more unsettling “so painful you have to laugh” modus operandi in his latter-day films) that keeps its emotional honesty relevant even after its pop culture references have long passed their expiration date. Like many films before it, the disappointments with what Kicking and Screaming wasn’t had to have time to burn off and fade away, so that appreciation for what it was could be allowed to take hold.

Next time: Not everyone has a voice that is appropriate for voiceover narration. Alec Baldwin has a voice that was made to provide narration. DVD Spine # 157

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