Andy Singer, an out-of-work actor now struggling as a New York City realtor, finds his world crashing down when his estranged 10-year-old daughter, Anna, shows up unannounced on his doorstep in the middle of his eviction.
In 2017, the Safdie Brothers exploded onto the indie filmmaking scene with the release of A24’s “Good Time,” a Robert Pattinson (in a career-best) starring thrill a second odyssey following one man’s grueling adventure through the New York City underworld as he attempts to get his brother out of jail after a bank robbery gone wrong. Following their success, the Safdies did it again with 2019’s “Uncut Gems,” where Adam Sandler once again showcased his dramatic chops as a gambling-addicted New York City jeweler desperately trying to keep himself afloat. These movies showcased deeply unlikeable leading men, propelled forward by incredible performance and rooted for only because the surrounding characters somehow managed to be even more despicable. The Safdie’s aren’t affiliated with “Notice to Quit,” so why do I bring them up? Well, before watching this movie, it was brought to my attention that director and writer Simon Hacker studied under their tutelage, and I promise that the relevance behind this will become clear as we continue.
“Notice to Quit” follows out-of-work actor turned struggling New York City realtor Andy Singer (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s” Michael Zegen) as he navigates the city over one day, joined by his ten-year-old daughter Anna (newcomer Kasey Bella Suarez). You see, Joel has had a string of bad luck lately. He hasn’t closed a deal on an apartment in over two months, which is no surprise given that the quality of most of these homes is just a hair away from condemnation. To compensate for his failures in his market, Andy has taken to stealing appliances and selling them to a shady distributor, who has grown tired of the quality of appliances being brought his way. To make matters worse, Joel will be evicted from his apartment by the end of the day if he can’t pay back the four months’ rent to his landlord, so he sets out to do anything possible to make ends meet.
Needless to say, Joel is having a bad day.
The concept here is pretty simple and sets up a nice redemption tale: a father and a daughter forced to connect throughout one day, forced to come together under insurmountable circumstances, grow to know more about each other, and find themselves bonding over mutual desires for a relationship. You see, Anna’s mother will be taking her away to Florida to live with a new romantic partner, and it’s only out of the fear of losing her that Andy comes to appreciate what he has in his daughter.
Yes, we’ve seen similar tales. And yes, we will see plenty more, I’m sure. There is seldom anything new under the sun when it comes to storytelling, so the onus relies on the one telling the story to offer a bold and refreshing take or, at the very least, to keep us entertained with the same old, same old.
The problem with “Notice to Quit” is that it never quite figures out precisely what it wants to be. As stated above, much of the film is spent trying to pull audiences into a charming father-and-daughter redemption tale. It plays things safe, nothing happens that isn’t predicted, and it appears to be a family-friendly film aimed at all audiences. The issue is that the other half of the film works hard to be something of a gritty tale, like a watered-down, sanitized Safdie Brothers flick (I told you there was a point). The tension never rises to meet its goals, and though Hacker has made an earnest attempt to make his villains menacing, they only ever seem to appear goofy, but not in that charming “Home Alone” family-friendly way that shows you grotesque characters that still exude laughable charm for their intended audience.
In fact, outside of a marvelous performance from Suarez as the daughter desperately seeking to reconnect, there is little charm to be found here. Zegen is a good actor who I loved in “Mrs. Maisel” and am thrilled to see in a leading role. He does what he can with the material he is given, imbuing it with as much charisma and leading-man energy as he can, but even he can’t make me care for the sleazy, one-dimensional character that Andy is written to be.
When the inevitable moment comes that the father and daughter make their peace (can we really consider that a spoiler with a movie like this?), it never feels earned, and, even more tragically, I couldn’t bring myself to care. By the time I was in the final ten-minute stretch, I was begging for the movie to end, until it finally did, with our “central protagonist” learning virtually nothing by the time the credits roll.
I wanted to enjoy this movie, as I was excited to see Zegen as a lead. I was genuinely impressed by Suarez, the combination of whom made “Notice to Quit” a manageable ninety minutes. However, as a whole, the script lacks focus and needs far more direction before being placed on the screen. With irredeemable characters and an identity crisis of genre, Notice to Quit was a slog to sit through, even with its minimal run time.
I hope to see Zegen and Suarez in better films in the future because their talent deserves it.
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