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Let Them All Talk Movie Review

Let Them All Talk is a 2020 drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Meryl Streep. It’s a very slight movie per usual for the director, but it’s undeniably charming.

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“I hope you don’t regret that.

That’s just the trying is all.

If you don’t try, if you don’t risk“

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A famous author goes on a cruise trip with her friends and nephew in an effort to find fun and happiness while she comes to terms with her troubled past. This movie has very little story. In fact, it’s a growing trend among Soderbergh pictures that he employs very small amounts of story while focusing more on acting and tone.

The movie works despite its lack of a stronger story because it’s very enjoyable from start to finish. It isn’t quickly paced per say, but it has this very charming quality to it that it flows quite well, it is interesting in its many intriguing conversations and it’s also well painted in the characters while the performances are reliably terrific.

Meryl Streep is excellent as Alice, the film’s main character. Although the movie doesn’t really have a lot to say about writers and the writing process and how it affects others as it touches upon those themes only sparingly, this character still works as she is well developed and her dynamic with others is strong. Candice Bergen and Dianne Wiest are both great as well and the scenes with all three are some of the best here.

I would have personally gone with more scenes with these three and less scenes with Gemma Chan’s Karen and Lucas Hedges’ Tyler. Both are competent actors, but the characters just did not do it for me. They were boring and their relationship wasn’t interesting at all. The movie did grind to a halt whenever it focused on these two, which was unfortunate.

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Let Them All Talk is suitably titled as Soderbergh literally just let these women talk and do all the heavy lifting as very little direction and editing was otherwise put into the movie. Although I found this improvisational style intriguing, it was ultimately overdone and some scenes would have benefited from a more conventional scripted approach. But again the setting of a ship is well utilized and the movie is elegant and charming throughout.