Women vs. Men

A movie that tries to explain why people do what they do. People don't realize what their part is in what their spouses do. While you need to own your actions...there are still other forces at play...and the loss of pure intimacy (not sex) and flirting and "the dance"...something we all actually crave. Its funny with a message.

If you don't like relationship films, I won't get you started. Skip this and live a happier life.

But, if you like movies about real people, this one's a winner. (Don't be confused by it's designation as a "comedy" -- you'll laugh, but it's not "funny, ha-ha." It's a humorous drama, a la "Diner" or "to Gillian on her 39th Birthday" -- if you didn't like those movies, you won't like this one.)

The acting, writing, and direction work together to put you in the middle of a really bad day in the marriage of Michael (Mantegna) & Dana (Lahti). They've hit that point in a relationship where everything's great, but nothing's right anymore. They're about ready to break up because they can't figure out how to talk about their problems with each other... perhaps because neither is sure what those problems are.

Unlike most movies where people are having trouble talking to each other, these folks really try. Dana talks to Brita (Headly) and Mike talks to Bruce (Resier). Even without the flashbacks, you can really feel that these people have been living in each other's lives for decades. Dana & Mike want to break their vicious cycle, but keep falling into their old patterns. They get angry, say (or do) the wrong thing (realizing how wrong it is) and back themselves into a corner.

Throughout, they try to keep a sense of humor about it all. Mike & Bruce make each other laugh, as do Dana & Brita...and we're laughing with them.

They're all smart and thoughtful and yet have trouble keeping their eye on the prize, maybe because they've forgotten that it takes work to make a relationship work, even (especially?) after 20 years.

For a movie that takes place in just a single day and in so few sets, it's surprisingly open and light. Palminteri's direction is fantastic. He makes a scene where the boys head to a strip club seem intimate and quiet while a scene where a single male strips for the two girls seem raucous and rowdy.

Palminteri gets the best performance I've seen out of Mantegna and the most intimate out of Reiser, so perhaps Palminteri remembers something about acting (even if he can't, in my opinion, act his way out of a paper bag). The women are equally amazing (Lahti and Headly showing they're more than just solid TV-series actors).

Despite the trauma that these folks go through, you'll enjoy spending 90 minutes watching them watch their lives fall apart. And watching them pick up the pieces because they're still crazy (in love) after all these years.

I rated this 9/10.

The first few scenes of this movie had some pretty funny moments, and then everything deteriorated to head games, psychobabble, and emotional drivel. By the end of the movie I had a nagging fear that this movie might be an indication of how couples in today's society actually do communicate with each other--in which case, the world's in serious trouble! It's a very talky movie, with just a handful of scenes involving physical interaction--most of the action is just background for the dialogue, rather like a play--but that isn't always a bad thing. The creators of "thirtysomething" were at the helm of this movie, so I was looking forward to the stimulating, thought-provoking dialogue that was one of the hallmarks of that show. I was sorely disappointed, though. The women in this movie are shrill, game-playing, emotional cripples, and the men are all clueless mental midgets. Just when you feel like you're starting to understand a character, he/she will do something completely unbelievable or irrational, and it so undermines the validity of the movie that by the time it was over I was sooooo ready for it to end and I had no sympathy or affection whatsoever for any of the characters. Most of the verbal interactions are ill-conceived and outrageously stupid. Joe Mantegna has one terrific, articulate, intensely profound soliloquy near the end of the movie that intensely reminded me of "thirtysomething"--but immediately after that wonderful speech he lapses into nonsense again. What a tremendous disappointment this movie was, particularly in light of the great credentials of its creators and the high caliber of the acting talent involved. No wonder it never made it to theaters.

Coarse low-lifes throw accusations at their spouses' despicable behavior for a few hours - and then engage in the awful predictable ending.

The shame is that such fine actors are used for this unfunny trash - which feels as if it were produced by Jerry Springer - I am a fan of Christine Lahti (who looks fantastic), Glenn Headley, Paul Reiser, Jenifer Coolidge (who sadly doesn't), and Joe Mantegna - it's really sad when excellent actors have to play so dumb and low.

If this were even as funny as an episode of Married With Children, I wouldn't mind as much - but it's not as inventive.

Skip it. It's really bad.

Never having heard of this film before, I saw the DVD at the video store and rented it on the strength of the cast, particularly, Reiser and Mantegna. I was amazed by the intelligence in the writing for these characters and their wives, Headly and Lahti, respectively. The pacing of the dialog and the chemistry of the characters flows like a Neil Simon play, a West Wing episode, or Mad About You. The two couples find themselves facing self-revelation after twenty years of marriage. It is a rite of passage that lies somewhere between middle-age crisis and incontinence (as Reiser's character, Bruce, discovers when he finds there are no books written for this crossroads in life). The honesty is hilarious. Pastorelli's character, Nick, is poignantly funny with his harmless, yet blatantly effective seduction prowess. I'm glad this was a two day rental, because I had to see it again. This would make a great stage play.