The Wife Reviews

Harrowing, hilarious and altogether superb second feature from writer, director, actor, composer (and just about anything else you'd care to mention) Tom Noonan (WHAT HAPPENED WAS...). Jack and Rita (Noonan and Julie Hagerty), a husband-and-wife New Age therapy tag team, are anticipating a quiet weekend alone. That plan comes crashing down when group therapy patient Cosmo (Wallace Shawn) shows up unexpectedly, with his much younger wife Arlie (Karen Young) in tow. Arlie is loud, abrasive and entirely without boundaries -- everything the overly restrained Jack and Rita are not. She invites herself in, and it becomes increasingly clear she has no intention of leaving. As the evening drags inexorably on, Arlie manages to bring out the absolute worst in everyone. The resemblance to WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? is evident and no doubt intentional, but Noonan has little use for Albee's histrionics: His keen sense of plainly spoken cruelties and devastating silences rivals Harold Pinter at his most incisive. With the right cast -- which he has here -- Noonan is a master of the squirm-inducing moment.