Reencontro do Amor

There is humor. It's dry and not meant for belly laughs. It's about people who meet late in life and bring a child into the world. It demonstrates that life is difficult in a superficial world as this movie shows the pain that people feel in a modern America. We see how people can live together and never honestly come together as human beings.

Carol Burnett and Walter Matthau provide moving performances as a couple struggling through maintaining a marriage in the wake of a heart-wrenching tragedy. An ode to a more eloquent age, this film engrosses the viewers in a world of two people who did everything right, but end up with life turning horribly wrong. Carol Burnett and Walter Matthau are brilliant and a surprise for DS9 fans: there is a comical and touching performance by Rene Auberjonois (Odo).

Anyone not knowing what PETE 'N' TILLIE was about would think they were about to see a riotous comedy--and for at least half of the time they would be right, since the stars are WALTER MATTHAU and CAROL BURNETT.

The first half dealing with the meeting and dating of Pete and Tillie almost seems like a reprise of Matthau and Elaine May in THE NEW LEAF. Plenty of wisecracks. But then, they marry and things take a turn for the worse when their young son becomes ill from leukemia and passes on. Since Tillie takes it worse than Matthau, there's an emotional segment there for Burnett and she handles it well as a serious actress. GERALDINE PAGE has a nice cameo as the woman who gets them acquainted at one of her parties.

A few other things happen after they decide to divorce, but the viewers are left wondering whether they will or won't get together again. I won't tell you here, you have to find out for yourself.

It's better when it's striving for laughs but, on the whole, it's an uneven blend of comedy and drama that works most of the time.

Time has not been kind to PETE-N-TILLE,a 1972 film starring Walter Matthau and Carol Burnett. I remember seeing this film in the theaters when it was released and thinking how good it was, but as the years have worn on and I have seen this film several more times, it comes off as a muddled and confusing film that isn't sure if it wants to be a comedy or a drama. Matthau and Burnett play middle-aged singles who court, marry, have a child, and find their marriage tested by tragedy. The movie makes jarring switches from fall-down hilarity to soap opera tragedy in the blink of an eye and it's hard to keep track of what we are supposed to be feeling. Director Martin Ritt has also kept a tight rein on his two stars, making sure they never go over the top; however, I think this is to the film's detriment. There is one hysterically funny scene of a knock down drag out fight between Burnett and her best friend, played by Geraldine Page (who inexplicably received an Oscar nomination for this), but other than that, this is a muddled and confusing film barely watchable because of the natural charisma and legendary reputations of its stars.

I'll treasure this movie for having given me of the my favourite lines, which I have used continually since first seeing this film... when on their first date... given a choice of beverages from Burnett, Matthau says 'whatever's the most trouble'.... that's pure Groucho... and of course the fight between Page and Burnett. A good woman on woman fight is rare in this type of film and the scene on the lawn with the hose is a gem,

I like to revisit this film every few years and still enjoy it immensely. Yeah, it degenerates to soap...too bad...if it hadn't this one might have been WAY up there in the ratings.