Così è la vita

... written and directed by Blake Edwards. Jack Lemmon stars as a man having a late mid-life crisis of sorts, while his stoic wife, played by Julie Andrews, waits for the results of a biopsy. The whole film takes place over one fraught weekend as their grown children come to visit for Lemmon's impending birthday celebration.

Jack Lemmon really grated on my nerves in this one, with all of his late-career mannerisms and vocal inflections ratcheted up to the top. Andrews is good in a thankless role, although I kept hoping she would kick Lemmon in the face. Upper-class malaise and fear of mortality are decent subjects better explored in other films. Lemmon himself even seems to be repeating his earlier turn in Save the Tiger, although this time with less restraint. There are a couple of humorous touches, but few enough to leave comedy off of the film's description.

This is the only Jack Lemmon movie I can think of that I have not enjoyed, and that is quite a feat.

Harvey Fairchild (Jack Lemmon) is a frustrated architect turning 60. His rich Malibu family is throwing him a birthday party. His singer wife Gillian (Julie Andrews) fears losing her voice. He is in deep depression and his doctor can find no physical ailment. He nearly has an affair with a client and is breaking down. His adult children arrive with issues of their own.

Director Blake Edwards decided to make a small movie with his family and friends. It's a personal affair. Jack is playing a version of Blake as the dysfunctional head of a dysfunctional family. It presents a lot of characters. It needs a better way to drive the narrative. Everybody is drifting around. It's fine that they are gathering to have this party for Harvey but it'd be nice if they are doing stuff to prepare for the party. It would require them to get rid of the servant and that may actually improve the family's appeal. It's an annoying aspect of the family. It's probably a real insight into their entitled lifestyle but it doesn't help to give them rooting interest. In a way, I both appreciate and hate getting a glimpse into their lives.

This Blake Edwards movie is like all Blake Edwards movies. That means it's fairly lame, has no particular style by which to distinguish itself, and looks like it's been airbrushed.

This one revolves around some mid-life crisis topics afflicting a middle-aged couple played by Jack Lemmon and Julie Andrews. Andrews is diagnosed with a tumor and spends the film waiting for test results; Lemmon has the hots for Sally Kellerman (who wouldn't) and spends the movie dithering about it. Lemmon and Andrews are good actors, and they almost make the film worth watching, but only almost.

Grade: C

While I appreciated the slice of life - pun intended - shown in the Blake Edwards drama That's Life!, I was disappointed on one aspect: Julie Andrews wasn't given much to do. The story could have been focused on her, since her conflict is extremely worrisome, but instead everyone's energy was sucked into Jack Lemmon's selfishness. If this were the first Jack Lemmon movie I'd ever seen, I'm not sure I'd be able to get over his despicable character and believe him in other, far more likable roles. Self-centered, negative, draining, critical, rude, and downright mean to those who love him - only to be sorry, cry, and feel sorry for himself later. Widely speculated to be a semi-autobiographical film (because both Julie's and Jack's children played their children on the screen, and it was filmed in the Edwards's Malibu home), I hope the rumors are merely that. If Blake Edwards had that many problems and took them out on his wife on a daily basis, poor Julie was terribly abused.

Julie's character is a famous singer worried about losing her voice. The start of the film shows her in a hospital room getting her throat scraped for a biopsy, and as she has decided not to tell anyone about her potential health problem, she's completely alone with her feelings. She and Jack go out to dinner that evening, and she's unable to eat. He notices her lack of appetite but doesn't notice her touching her throat constantly; his only reaction is that he hopes she isn't coming down with a cold so he doesn't catch it. She receives no sympathy, no attention, and continually pours herself into her husband and her adult children. As the screenplay is written, she doesn't actually have a character at all. She's just a bottle of glue, keeping everything together. Given the seriousness of her situation, the focus could (and should) have been about her, instead of tending to her husband's constant whining and spewing meanness. She certainly had the acting chops to handle a heavy health crisis, especially since it was a sensitive subject that would soon hit far too close to home.

That's Life! Contains good acting and a tough script that sheds a light on the inner turmoil of a successful man who damages those around him. It's no wonder his wife was having a throat problem, since she didn't feel like she had a voice in her marriage. You'll get to see sweet family connections, and some beautiful '80s fashions, but if you want Julie Andrews to get the spotlight, rent Duet for One.

"That's Life" is supposed to be a story about a man just on the other side of a middle age crisis on his way to a breakdown. It stars Jack Lemmon who plays middle aged men on their way to a breakdown better than anyone. Julie Andrews is his loving, supportive wife, who is going through a crisis of her own. Directed by Blake Edwards, I thought this movie had real potential and couldn't wait to get to the theatre to see it.

It turned out to be a painfully dull family reunion picture for the Lemmon's and Edwards'. Populated with many of the stars actual children, "That's Life" feels as though you are seeing some type of home movie. Thanks, but I'll stick with my own.

It's hard to feel compassion or sympathy with Harvey Fairchild (Lemmon), when he has a beautiful house, beautiful family that loves him, fancy suits, three martini lunches... you get the picture. But Harvey is helplessly self-centered. Oblivious to all going on around him. He cannot even be happy at the prospect of being a grandparent. Nor does he pick up the signals that his wife may be sick.

Watching Lemmon, I thought that his performance was a cross of "Days of Wine and Roses" and "Save the Tiger". It's all been done before. He is certainly not helped with a lame script by Edwards.

The only saving grace in this movie is Julie Andrews. Stoic, strong, and courageous in the face of her own problems, as well as having to be strong for Harvey. Her performance is the only well-rounded, realistic one in the film.

As for the other members of the Edwards and Lemmon families, the less said the better.

4 out of 10