Encontros e Desencontros

Man, what a difference 20 years or so makes! I'm not sure when I saw this movie, but since it came out in 1979, and I saw it on TV (probably cable at my brother's house)-it was surely in the early 80s. I couldn't remember the movie very well (though I do distinctly remember Burt Reynolds taking the polaroids of Jill Clayburgh in the shower, and her laughing at the tall basketball player) but I knew that I thought it was funny. In fact it was funny enough to go on my short list of movies to watch again soon (you know that one that you never seem to get to). Well imagine my surprise when I saw this video in the bargain-bin of the video store here on the U.S. Army base in Yongsan Korea for two bucks!

Well I liked the movie back then, but I watched it with totally different eyes as a 37 year-old man. It was still funny, but in a much more relative way. Back then I thought Reynold's antics were charming, now I see them as irrepressible. I'm sure I thought Clayburgh's character was a little strange back then, now I see her as vulnerable and true.

This is a very good movie with numerous scenes that are funny and touching. In an industry flooded with banal romantic-comedies this should set the mark.

Although puzzlingly slow-moving, "Starting Over" is a gentle, funny film about a newly-divorced man attempting to date again. I loved it when Burt Reynolds (in a benign but amiable performance) hits the furniture store to fill up his apartment, but then sits in his studio surrounded by all the new pieces and now has nothing to do. Or when girlfriend Jill Clayburgh shouts at him, "I am no one-nighter! I am a teacher! I am going for my Masters!" The movie doesn't know what to do with its characters near the end--taking us down a few roads which disappointed me--but otherwise it's a smart, subtle comedy and the appealing players make the most of it. **1/2 out of ****

I loved Burt Reynolds when I was wee. And performances like this, for me, are what he was best at. Here's the scoop: he is normal, we are normal, but the world is a bit crazy, and us normal guys have got to navigate it and find true, terrific, wonderful love.

This is a romantic comedy, a genre which seldom produces a great film, and indeed this is not a great film. That said, it is an above - average, very enjoyable film of it's type, which is genuinely LOL funny in places, and has not dated at all. And, it has a nice Christmas-time thing going on, which may or not be relevant to your interest. Slightly wonky (New York / Bostony) music is fitting, and I would defo give Bergen a cuddle with that see-through blouse thing on.

When the end credits come up, with another cheesy song, you might feel that you know a wee bit more about humanity, and more again about what love really is, and isn't.

Starting Over is a great movie and another tribute to the late director, Alan Pakula, who could get the utmost out of his actors.In almost all his movies some cast member would win, or at least be nominated for, an Oscar -- Jane Fonda in Klute, Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice, Jason Robards in All the President's Men, and the two female leads in Starting Over. Yet Pakula seemed to be always under the radar and, in my opinion, never got the glory he deserved. His name is never brought up in discussions about the great directors. What a shame. When you watch Starting Over, notice how every actor -- from the leads to the smallest walk-on -- does an outstanding job. That's the Pakula touch.

This is a totally charming and mature romantic comedy unlike anything Hollywood puts out today. It has aged amazingly well and delivers big laughs, soft chuckles, and a few deep sighs. This time, I especially enjoyed when Burt Reynolds, as Phil Potter, shows up at Jill Clayburgh's (Marilyn) and she is having a candlelit dinner for one. The scenes of the divorced men's group are wonderful, as many have already noted. And Candice Bergen was truly funny. If you see this one listed in your TV Guide, make a date with it.