The Favor

Kathy is a bookkeeper in Portland, Oregon who has two children, Gina and Hannah, with her science professor husband Peter. Her 15-year high school reunion is coming up, and she can't help but wonder what life would be like with her old boyfriend Tom. Kathy's best friend Emily agrees to go to Denver, where Tom lives, and investigate what he is like. Emily comes home from Denver claiming to have had wild sex with Tom. Meanwhile, Emily's younger artist boyfriend Elliot is nice but he and Emily break up over his lack of interest in boring stuff.

Miscommunication results in a lot of laughs later. And it just happens that Elliot is going to Denver for his job. This sets up some wild situations.

This is pretty good most of the time. Some of the jokes didn't work for me. In particular, I didn't care for the women's obsession with Brad Pitt's body. I get that if it were the other way around, I would understand. But this just wasn't part of the appeal for me.

I've always like Harley Jane Kozak, from the time she was a college professor on "The Guiding Light". She always has such a pleasant personality and she's attractive, though not beautiful. She does well here.

Pitt does a good job too and is mostly pleasant.

Some of the best comedy comes during Kathy's fantasies or nightmares. Though in one case, Kathy is having neither a nightmare nor a fantasy. She is actually wearing a smoking hot dress that a hooker might wear, with a wild hairstyle. I don't really think of Kozak as sexy, and while I got the joke when her husband didn't notice when she put on a sexy nightie and behaved in an alluring way, this is just a standard joke with married couples and I was able to appreciate it without being turned on by Kozak.

There is one particularly funny scene where Kathy takes a drug not intended for her.

Even though there are kids, and a kids' birthday party, kids that age shouldn't watch this. Some of the sexual humor is quite potent.

I had a good time, mostly.

...but it wasn't great, either. An okay, light-hearted, feel-good comedy. Had a little too much TV-sitcomishness about it, and the main character lady was a little too neurotic, and her husband was a little too suspicious in a TV sitcom sort of way. But all of that was just "a little" and overall it was fun to watch. Mind you -- we caught it on cable -- I wouldn't have wanted to rent it!

I give it a B-

O my God. This is so bad it's nearly funny. Yes, nearly. The twists and all the cliché's are in here. I just saw the movie with a friend (because we had breakfast and put the TV on) and just kept shaking are heads.

Harley Jane Kozak is so overacting it's just pathetic. And why Bill Pullman is playing in ANY film is beyond me. The guy has ONE look. The "i lost my glasses and now i have to squeeze my eyes to see anything" look.

Brad Pitt just wasn't convincing. He's done far more better jobs than this.

This film is just BAD. No surprise from a director who gave us 'gems' as 'Mystic Pizza' and 'my favorite martian'.

Sorry, i hate to be all negative about a film but this one gave me no choice.

There's a lot to overlook here to try and get some enjoyment out of this, but it is possible. Attractive talented cast with one exception-Pullman's friend and colleague. McGovern is cute a a button as always as was her female co-star. Believable scenarios handled in sometimes clumsy ways but never strays into outright ludicrousness. Comes close though! If you can get past the first hour you'll probably reach the end. Dialogue is clever and relatable. Of course there's a small amount of PC virtue signaling that movies can never seem to avoid no matter the era produced. Can't quite give a 7 but 6 seems fair for a watchable but not memorable comedy. A one view movie, nothing special.

An amusing bit of fluff for a "chick flick." Guys, this is a good date movie! Enough Brad Pitt and silly love crap for them, but amusing enough for us. No gratuitous nudity but HEY, you can't have everything.

An unknown actress named Harley Jane Kozak is the star of this film, portraying every man's dream wife - sexy, intelligent, feisty and funny (all in a charmingly unpredictable package) - while at the same time being a great mother. It is sad that Kozak soon gave up acting for good to raise her own family. Watching this film makes me believe she deserved better than obscurity.

As usual, Brad Pitt displays the talent that would soon make him a superstar, and Bill Pullman also gives a decent performance. The least talented of the four major players is Elizabeth McGovern. She doesn't necessarily give a bad performance, but rather fails to make the role her own. She could have easily been replaced by any other competent actress without altering the chemistry between the characters. Perhaps another actress would have turned in a more memorable performance. McGovern is one of those actresses of whom most people have heard, and yet few can name anything she has ever been in.

As usual with movies aimed toward a female audience, the plot is silly and at times nonsensical. As always, at least one man has to be portrayed as a manipulative scumbag with one thing on his mind while all the female characters are decent and loving and emotionally complex. Thankfully though, this film doesn't take itself too seriously. All in all, despite being a "chick flick," this movie is worth watching - perhaps even twice.