Those Lips, Those Eyes

This entertaining teen dramedy is a rare thing: a movie about show business that's an argument for the nobility of "normalcy". A pre-mumblecore indie that has many of that genre's pluses (naturalism, relatable emotions, clear goals) without its big minus: bad / no written dialogue. Hulce nails the wide-eyed naivete, but Langella is the scene-stealer; ridiculous, wise, unhinged, egotistical, & fragile. With a great ending, it's a solid little forgotten 80s sleeper that surpasses its amateurish moments.

I originally saw this film while I was working as a musician doing musical theatre in summer stock. If you've ever done any work in theatre - especially at a summer stock theatre - you'll really enjoy this film.

Yes, there are some moments of really bad writing in the film, but overall it's a lovely tribute to the theatre and why people love it.

In the early 1950's, young college student Tom Hulce takes a summer job as the prop master for a summer stock theater company in Cleveland, Ohio. He finds himself pulled away from his Pre-Med studies and towards the theater, partly by his friendship with struggling New York actor Frank Langella and partly through a romance with dancer Glynnis O'Connor.

You basically know how this movie will play out. Hulce's father, the great Jerry Stiller, will pressure him to focus on school, but he won't listen, but then a great reversal will drive him back to his old life before a compromise is reached at the film's climax. It's all formula and this film really doesn't deviate from it.

That's not really a bad thing. Formulas exist for a reason and how well a formulaic film works has a lot to do with the actors and whatever colour the script adds. This film really doesn't work, and surprisingly it's mostly because of Hulce. He made this between "Animal House" and ":Amadeus", and maybe it's his relative inexperience or maybe he's just woefully miscast, but he's not good in this film and he drags it down.

I was intrigued by this movie, because it was shot in my hometown of Cleveland -- actually at Cain Park (Summer) Theater in Cleveland Heights.

A pre-med student, Tom Hulce, takes a summer job as a prop man at Cain Park. He meets perennial summer actor-singer, Frank Langella. The veteran Frank still has dreams of making it big on Broadway, but it likely will never happen. However, he manages to impart his dreams of the theater onto Hulce, who by the end of the movie, loses his virginity and commits his hopes to the theater rather than medicine.

Fine acting by Hulce, Langella, Glynnis O'Connor and Kevin McCarthy, who has a small part as a lecherous agent near the end of the movie. He dashes Langella's hopes again, but Langella acquires another agent "who can get him places that (the mcCarthy character) can only dream of."

The warmest, most engaging movie of its genre, Those Lips, Those Eyes, made me smile and cry as it reminded me of the work it takes to pursue a dream and the pain of disappointment. Hulce and Langella are superb and the story seems to write itself. A brilliant screenplay by David Shaber (one of my favorites! - see The Warriors and Nighthawks for more...) and beautiful sets filmed on location (I think) at the actual summer theater in which the story takes place. You can't see this movie and not want to drop everything and get into the theater! Please check this video out if you can find it.