When I read that American Affair was a coming-of-age story, where a thirteen-year-old boy discovers his attractive older female neighbor, I was thinking to myself "how many times are they going to The Graduate." A change here or a tweak there, the film has been done to death. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this film was not so much about the boy as it was about the 1960s and the events surrounding JFK's assassination.
Adam Stafford (Cameron Bright) attends a Catholic School in Washington DC. It is during that time before Vatican II has fully opened the windows of the church to let in some fresh air. The sisters are still Machiavellian in their approach to discipline in school. Stafford is awkward and starting to notice girls. He has also started to notice his Marilyn Monroe knock-off neighbor, Catherine Caswell (Gretchen Mol) who just happens to be a "friend" of JFK. She also just happens to be the ex-wife of CIA operative Graham Caswell (Mark Pellegrino). Mark works for CIA head Lucian Carver (James Rebhorn) who looks bookish but whose actions belie his looks. He IS the CIA.
To further complicate the mix, Adam's parents (Perrey Reeves and Noah Wylie) happen to be journalists. Adam develops a friendly relationship with Caswell and learns some good life lessons from her. Caswell's sensuality is not lost on Adam, who is enamored by her in good old fashioned "Mrs. Robinson" style. However, the relationship stays on a playful level, with Adam getting the "straight scoop" from Caswell that kids in those days didn't get from their own parents. A dash of CIA espionage and some stock footage of JFK's assassination provide the more dramatic effects in the story.
Alex Metalf wrote American Affair. I was glad that he avoided cliche and went an entirely different direction with this film than the one I thought it was headed. I would have had serious reservations about this film if the plot had not shown the restraint that it did. A lot of ground was covered in a short script, which pulled together a variety of forces that were only given cursory attention. This made for a somewhat shallow story that was intriguing but lacked depth. I believe the story could have been explored further with a better outcome. Because so much ground is covered in such a short time, the characters pay the price with superficial traits.
American Affair received an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America. There is some inappropriate touching, to include touching involving a young minor. There is a bit of nudity and a scene where our thirteen-year-old Adam watches a sexual encounter from a closet. The sensuality is the primary reason for the rating. However, there was some drinking (underage drinking and smoking, as well) and a surprising use of the F word, which I did not think that age group would have thrown around so easily in a Catholic School in the early 1960s. But what do I know? It just seemed anachronistic to me. Teenage audiences should be fine for this film.
If American Affair had merely been a knock-off of The Graduate, I would have non-recommended it. Why see a knock-off when the original is still available? American Affair went a different direction that intrigued me. I was interested in the storyline, although it pulled together a lot of different ideas without fully exploring any of them. It made the story flat and the characters hollow. The characters were not uninteresting, just undeveloped. The dialogue was good and the performances were adequate. Overall, this film could have been better but would still pass time on a rainy day. 6.5/10.
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