यूज़्ड पीपल

If you like the "Moonstruck" kind of film - a many-layered, multi-charactered tumble of the comic and the tragic (with plenty of shouting and raging) romping to a happy ending - you'll love this. It's packed, it's fast-moving, it's funny, it's wonderfully acted - above all, it's human. The elderly, gentle Mastroianni still charms and delights, though it's a pity they challenged his English with so many difficult lines. As a counterbalance, Shirley Maclean is a Fury again (cf. "Steel Magnolias"), to be smoothed and softened only by the friction with daughter Bibby (Kathy Bates) and the dedication of her new suitor. True, the story has its creaks and groans - what better to road to a woman's heart than to save her grandson from certain death? - but exuberance carries the day, we are swept along and are happy to rejoice with the rest of the cast in the Grand Finale. Of course, if you didn't like "Moonstruck" . . .

My review was written in December 1992 after watching the movie in a Manhattan screening room.

A modern, absurdist sensibility informs the soap opera "Used People", making this Fox release an unusual and problematic entry in the crowded holiday sweepstakes. Terrific cast should ensure a hefty audience sample.

Peopled with an eye toward the growing market segment that patronzed its stars' hits "Steel Magnolias", "Driving Miss Daisy" and "Fried Green Tomatoes", the Largo film actually harks back to '50s weepies. With Shirley MacLaine as its spine, the film updates the type of pictures that Shirley Booth (e.g., in "About Miss Leslie") or Jane Wyman routinely used to make.

Actor Todd Graff has scripted an actors' showcase, with heightened performances by the ensemble eschewing the naturalism favored by mainstream fare. Whether viewers will get with the program is another matter; film's trailer emphasizes its comedic elements (and sight gags) while hiding its more ambitious melodramatic segments.

Set in 1969 in the Sunnyside section of Queens, New York, the film limns the colorful family life of a Jewish matriarchy centered around MacLaine, whose husband (Bob Dishy) has just died. Key characters include her protective mom (Jessica Tandy), dysfunctional children (Kathy Bates and Marcia Gay Harden), both of whom have been divorced, and Tandy's best friend (Sylvia Sidney).

Enter Marcello Mastroianni, MacLaine's secret admirer who uses the family's sitting shiva after Dishy's funeral as his occasion to make his platonic affection for her manifest. As shown in flashbacks, he met Dishy in his brother Charles Cioffi's bar 23 years ago and encouraged him to continue his marriage to Shirley rather than leave her.

The family's rejection of Mastroianni and cross-cultural antics between them and Mastroianni's Italian-American clan make for some effective comedy in the middle reels but Graff's work is built around highly dramatic confrontation scenes. In particular, a heart-rending fight between MacLaine and daughter Bates becomes the film's emotional core, marred only by Graff's frequently obvious dialogue.

As demonstrated in her previous picture, "Antonia & Jane", British director Beeban Kidron is fond of injecting caricature and satire, here personified by Harden's character who keeps imitating movie icons like Marilyn Monroe and Anne Bancroft in "The Graduate". Latter motif digresses at length as she and Mastrroianni's brother-in-law (Joe Pantoliano) engage in a Dustin Hoffman/Bancroft sex scene that segues to light bondage.

Least successful element of black humor involves Harden's young son (Mathew Branton), who believes grandpa Dishy's spirit is protecting him. Throughout the film he places himself in suicidal situations only to be saved by luck. Like Graff's other subplots, this yields a heartwarming resolution but is tough sledding along the way.

MacLaine's precise acting is laudatory and balanced by a very sympathetic turn by twinkle-eyed Mastroianni, in his best English-language role so far. The support ensemble is excellent, with Sylvia Sidney, perfectly matched opposite Tandy, stealing most of her scenes adroitly. Harden's work, as it was in "Miller's Crossing", is promising but brittle compared with the ease shown by her vet co-stars.

Both Tandy and Bates have essentially supporting assignments but fans will appreciate their lack of showboating here. David Watkin, who covered similar territory in lensing "Moonstruck", photographs the action unobtrusively while capturing some memorable images, such as Harden visiting a cemetery or MacLaine dancing in her apartment. Rachel Portman's score handily supports the film's serious mood and helps avoid risibility.

An all-star cast delivers wonderful performances in this "overlooked treasure" of a comedy drama. The main story deals with a family's loss of their patriarch, who 20 years earlier was prepared to silently exit his family's life because he saw no hope for his marriage to a dominating wife. At the funeral a man enters the picture, insisting on speaking to the widow. He reveals the secret that during that fateful evening 20 years earlier, he had convinced the now deceased husband to save his marriage by "dancing with his wife". The man watched the couple from the street as they danced in their kitchen. He was hopelessly in love with the image of this woman who had just fallen in love again with her husband. Better late than never, he now percistantly builds a relationship and eventually marries the woman.

There are many subplots to the story. One tells of the boy who feels the "presence" of his dead grandfather, and is certain that he is now invincible. This leads to several incidents where the boy tempts fate by putting his life in danger. His mother, herself dealing with the recent death of a younger child, escapes into a fantasy world by dressing up as Marilyn Monroe or "Mrs. Robinson". There is also a sub-plot discussing how elderly view their prospects of growing more dependent on others and eventually dying.

The film's main setting is NYC 1969. There are several beautiful references to the time, i. e. the Moon landing and the Mets winning the World Series. -- You gotta watch this movie carefully in order not to miss a beat, but you will enjoy it. The final scene drives it home. 5 stars for this one!

The critics did not like this film, and it now rates only a 5.6 for IMDB votes, but have a read of the positive comments below. My wife and I enjoyed this film. There are many meaningful parts, numerous gags and funny situations amidst the painful family life portrayed a la NYC Jewish-Italiano.

The three awards include two Golden Globes, and with Shirley MacLaine, Marcello Mastroianni, Marcia Gay Harden, and Kathy Bates, there is a lot more to this film than either the critics or voting would indicate.

It may not everyone's cup of tea, but well worth a video rental if you can appreciate the messages about family life. A good flick - go ahead and try it.

What a wonderful little movie! Simple story of thwarted lives and new-found love boasts one of the best casts in movie history.

Shirley MacLaine stars as a Jewish widow in 1969 New York who is pursued by a strange Italian, Marcello Mastroianni. He's waited for 23 years for her to be available. She has 2 troubled daughters, Kathy Bates and Marcia Gay Harden. Bates is fat and unhappy; Harden is nuts. Her mother, Jessica Tandy, is afraid of anything new. Also along for the ride are Sylvia Sidney, Joe Pantoliano, Louis Guss, Charles Cioffi, Bob Dishy, Doris Roberts, Helen Hanft, and cute Matthew Branton.

With 1969 New York as a backdrop, anything is possible. The Mets win the World Series.... We land on the moon..... And Mastroianni lands MacLaine! Simple, sweet, and beautifully acted.

The accents waver a tad, but on the whole this film is well written and acted. Tandy and Sidney are splendid as the old women looking for once last thrill--they move to Florida.... Bates and Harden are heartbreaking as the bickering sisters.... MacLaine and Mastroianni are perfection.

A rare chance to see 4 Oscar winners in one film!