Portrait of a White Marriage

Maybe I expected too much? I thought that direction by Harry Shearer, writing by Martin Mull and acting by those two plus Fred Willard would add up to something pretty good. I was wrong.

The premise is ok, and the beginning of the movie is pretty strong and well paced. Eventually, it collapses under its own weight.

The story, in a nutshell, is a daytime talk show is moved from a large city to the small town where Fred Willard and Mary Kay Place's characters live. At the same time, the town-folk try to take advantage of having a "celebrity" in their midst. That's the backdrop. The major plot points are the falling out of the marriage between Willard and Place's characters. Willard gets "help" from the clergyman's therapist wife; Place finds solace in the arms of Mull. Smalltown rumors abound.

Not something I'd recommend, unless you'll sit through anything with Mull, Willard or Place in it.

My rating: 4