Post Grad is a sweet romantic comedy that is better suited to be a TV movie of the week than to be a big screen event. Alexis Bledel is the star of the film and the supporting cast includes Zack Gilford, Jane Lynch, Michael Keaton and Carol Burnett. All of that talent can't elevate this movie to more than it is.
As the movie starts Ryden Malby (Bledel) is graduating from college. She has her life all planned out and that includes a job with a top publishing company in Los Angeles, and her own apartment. When the job falls through Ryden is forced to move back in with her parents (Keaton and Lynch), brother Hunter (Bobby Coleman) and grandmother Maureen (Burnett).
She gets a lot of moral support from her best friend Adam (Gilford). He tries to tell Ryden how he feels about her but she sees him only as a friend. When she meets her handsome neighbor (Rodrigo Santoro) she totally isolates herself from Adam.
The big questions posed by the movie are whether Ryden will choose the handsome neighbor or the true blue guy who has stood by her though thick and thin. Also will she ever find a job and especially one that suits her talent? As you can see this is not a movie about world hunger or any issues like that. It just concerns life and how it should be lived.
Bledel is okay in the main role. She seems to be playing a role somewhat similar to the one she had on The Gilmore Girls. Gilford is able to project Adam's frustration at not being able to make Ryden care for him. Santoro fully meets the requirements of being the handsome and exotic neighbor next door.
Lynch has the capability of being hilarious in any role but in this one she is just the wife and mother and has very little else to do. This is a waste of some major talent. Keaton has a larger role as the father but he just isn't that good in the part. Burnett still has the ability to make us interested in what she is doing no matter how trivial it is.
The film is rated PG-13 for profanity.
Young teenage girls might get something out of this movie but for those over seventeen it will probably be unappealing. And as for guys, forget it! Maybe some long lost Burnett fans will wonder in and watch her do her thing one more time.
The plot, the acting, and everything else make this a movie that would fit perfectly into the mold of movie of the week. It is sweet, amusing and completely simple. It even has a guest star in Carol Burnett.
I scored Post Grad a graduated 5 out of 10.