That's Life! - So ist das Leben

Speaking as a Jack Lemmon fan I think this movie is one of his worst. Jack and Julie make a nice couple but aren't able to make this film work. I expected much more from a movie directed by Blake Edwards, music by Henry Mancini (the Pink Panther Series) and two very good actors Jack Lemmon and Julie Andrews.

Apart from the nice scenery, the entire movie is a failure. The plot is average, the characters are absolutely flat and Jack's constant swearing (which annoyed me so much I kept track), didn't give me the slightest feeling I was watching anything worthwhile.

Do yourself a favor and skip this movie, if you can!

THAT'S LIFE! is a lovely family drama from 1986 directed by Blake Edwards centering on an affluent family man named Harvey Fairchild (Jack Lemmon)who goes through an emotional roller-coaster due to his approaching 60th birthday. He is so busy wallowing in self-pity and depression that he not even aware of the fact that his wife, Gillian (Julie Andrews) is facing a life-threatening illness. This barely-seen and highly underrated film was an unexpected delight with an intelligent screenplay, sensitive direction by Edwards and a 100-megawatt star performance by Jack Lemmon in the title role. The film wreaks of nepotism with Chris Lemmon playing their oldest son, Blake Edwards' daughter Jennifer and Andrews' daughter, Emma Waltoon also appearing as siblings in the family. There is even a cameo by Lemmon's real life spouse, Felicia Farr, as a fortune teller. The home of Blake Edwards and Julie Andrews is even utilized as the Fairchild family home in the film. Edwards, Andrews, and especially Lemmon fans should definitely give this one a look if they haven't seen it...a quiet, affecting drama that effectively blends the smile and the tear.

Harvey Fairchild (Jack Lemmon) is a frustrated architect turning 60. His rich Malibu family is throwing him a birthday party. His singer wife Gillian (Julie Andrews) fears losing her voice. He is in deep depression and his doctor can find no physical ailment. He nearly has an affair with a client and is breaking down. His adult children arrive with issues of their own.

Director Blake Edwards decided to make a small movie with his family and friends. It's a personal affair. Jack is playing a version of Blake as the dysfunctional head of a dysfunctional family. It presents a lot of characters. It needs a better way to drive the narrative. Everybody is drifting around. It's fine that they are gathering to have this party for Harvey but it'd be nice if they are doing stuff to prepare for the party. It would require them to get rid of the servant and that may actually improve the family's appeal. It's an annoying aspect of the family. It's probably a real insight into their entitled lifestyle but it doesn't help to give them rooting interest. In a way, I both appreciate and hate getting a glimpse into their lives.

... written and directed by Blake Edwards. Jack Lemmon stars as a man having a late mid-life crisis of sorts, while his stoic wife, played by Julie Andrews, waits for the results of a biopsy. The whole film takes place over one fraught weekend as their grown children come to visit for Lemmon's impending birthday celebration.

Jack Lemmon really grated on my nerves in this one, with all of his late-career mannerisms and vocal inflections ratcheted up to the top. Andrews is good in a thankless role, although I kept hoping she would kick Lemmon in the face. Upper-class malaise and fear of mortality are decent subjects better explored in other films. Lemmon himself even seems to be repeating his earlier turn in Save the Tiger, although this time with less restraint. There are a couple of humorous touches, but few enough to leave comedy off of the film's description.

This is the only Jack Lemmon movie I can think of that I have not enjoyed, and that is quite a feat.

While I appreciated the slice of life - pun intended - shown in the Blake Edwards drama That's Life!, I was disappointed on one aspect: Julie Andrews wasn't given much to do. The story could have been focused on her, since her conflict is extremely worrisome, but instead everyone's energy was sucked into Jack Lemmon's selfishness. If this were the first Jack Lemmon movie I'd ever seen, I'm not sure I'd be able to get over his despicable character and believe him in other, far more likable roles. Self-centered, negative, draining, critical, rude, and downright mean to those who love him - only to be sorry, cry, and feel sorry for himself later. Widely speculated to be a semi-autobiographical film (because both Julie's and Jack's children played their children on the screen, and it was filmed in the Edwards's Malibu home), I hope the rumors are merely that. If Blake Edwards had that many problems and took them out on his wife on a daily basis, poor Julie was terribly abused.

Julie's character is a famous singer worried about losing her voice. The start of the film shows her in a hospital room getting her throat scraped for a biopsy, and as she has decided not to tell anyone about her potential health problem, she's completely alone with her feelings. She and Jack go out to dinner that evening, and she's unable to eat. He notices her lack of appetite but doesn't notice her touching her throat constantly; his only reaction is that he hopes she isn't coming down with a cold so he doesn't catch it. She receives no sympathy, no attention, and continually pours herself into her husband and her adult children. As the screenplay is written, she doesn't actually have a character at all. She's just a bottle of glue, keeping everything together. Given the seriousness of her situation, the focus could (and should) have been about her, instead of tending to her husband's constant whining and spewing meanness. She certainly had the acting chops to handle a heavy health crisis, especially since it was a sensitive subject that would soon hit far too close to home.

That's Life! Contains good acting and a tough script that sheds a light on the inner turmoil of a successful man who damages those around him. It's no wonder his wife was having a throat problem, since she didn't feel like she had a voice in her marriage. You'll get to see sweet family connections, and some beautiful '80s fashions, but if you want Julie Andrews to get the spotlight, rent Duet for One.