Avec les compliments de l'auteur

The only reason I saw this movie, was because Al Pacino was starring in it. I'm a huge fan of him and I don't want to miss any of his movies. "Author! Author!" is a highly enjoyable comedy-drama about a family guy and his many kids. Al Pacino plays a writer of stage plays who is dealing with some personal problems with his wife which also affects his writing.

Of course, "Author! Author!" isn't the best Al Pacino movie ever made, but it's certainly worth watching. This movie was a pleasant surprise. The director Arthur Hiller has also directed the timeless romantic classic "Love Story" with Ryan O'Neal. I think Al Pacino was worth his Golden Globe nomination.

Fine and well acted comedy-drama.

7,5/10

Diving deep into Al Pacino's filmography has not proven rewarding, and he may be one of those actors where all his genuinely great stuff is pretty well-known. That's not a bad thing, considering there are probably a couple-dozen movies that range from masterful to really good that the legendary actor's appeared in, but I don't think Author! Author! Could be considered one of them.

It's a dramedy about divorce, taking a slightly more humorous approach to the kind of story that was told more seriously (and better) in films like Kramer vs. Kramer and, many years later, Marriage Story. It especially reminded me of the latter, what with Pacino's character being involved in theater/the arts, but this is one instance where the "less original" and newer film is the much better one.

For Pacino completionists- sure, I guess watch it. He has also been in worse films than this, but it was pretty middling overall, I've got to say.

Taking a break from his serious roles, Al Pacino stars in this light comedy as playwright Ivan Travalian, trying to cope with putting on a play while raising his children and his son's friend. In a way, "Author! Author!" seems like the sort of movie that they just made for fun, but it's an interesting look at the vicissitudes of that particular lifestyle. It's not a masterpiece by any stretch (certainly not Pacino's best), but still worth seeing, if only to see the man known as Michael Corleone and Tony Montana doing comedy - although I doubt that you'll shout the title when the movie ends. Also starring Dyan Cannon, Tuesday Weld and Alan King.

Some comments would have you believe that this movie is annoying and stupid. Don't believe that for a minute. It is an unfair assessment of what movies were like in the 80's (not 70's as was indicated in a previous comment).

It seems pretty obvious that if you were old enough during the early 80's, goof-ball comedy and romantic comedy were at its peak (Check out some Neil Simon, Blake Edwards, Dudley Moore, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Harold Ramis, Goldie Hawn to name a few). The theme songs are soft and melodic. This movie is no exception. If you expect something much more, then you are in for a disappointment.

Synopsis: Ivan Trevellan (Al Pacino), a playwright, has a deadline to finish his play. Along the way, he struggles to keep his marriage, provide support to five children (in which four of the five are his wife's from previous marriages) and deal with his demanding producer and director.

Pacino's characters are always warm, intimate and personal - yes even Michael Corleone - and in this film also sensitive and kind. Here he gets to share those qualities with lucky children whose parents abandon them.

As a father, he's tough when he needs to be, tender and concerned when he's called on to be and just a big kid when he feels impelled and its appropriate. His character here, as in many of his roles is self-centered if not self-obsessed, and that can drive the adults around him bonkers when they need his attention, but he never lets the children down.

His house evolves into a kind of wayward home - a place to where his ex-wives's children return of their own will because it's the only place they feel wanted comfortable and respected. There they matter as human beings.

Pacino is a playwright and apparently a good one, but he seems less concerned with the art of his craft and more concerned with it being lucrative for the benefit of his now extended family. He's shown to be the only responsible adult in the movie and he's barely hanging on to the coat tails of sanity as it is. The children all seem to have more sense than the adults. With Pacino, they take an us against the world approach to their problems. We root for them, of course, because they're much too important to be ignored and they've got the spunk to insist that they be seen and heard.

The household has a summer camp bunk mate feel. The children have distinct and in some way opposing personalities. Each stands out as special and for the most part there is little conflict. That may be a contrivance or it could be a believable happy accident.

Tuesday Weld, Pacino's estranged wife and the mother (with different fathers) of four of the five children, is the embodiment of the enemy. A selfish, uncaring, unloving mother - oh, they're out there - but she probably also represents society on some level especially at the tail end of the me-decade 70's. Perhaps for the sake of ratings there is no direct reference to drugs or promiscuity, but it ain't a far leap to make to explain the history of the characters.

As at least one other reviewer has said, the film probably works a lot better for people who have lived the kind of life portrayed.