Ta mère ou moi !

More of a romantic comedy than just straight comedy this movie from the late John Candy was really good. He plays a policeman with a bit of a domineering mother who has not had much success in finding that special someone. He finally does, but not surprisingly his mother disapproves of her. Throughout the film we are shown how this relationship between Candy's and Sheedy's character progresses and how hard the mother tries to get in the way and stop her son from marrying an Italian girl instead of a nice Irish girl. We also get to see how much Candy's character worries about his mother when he is not with her, imagining all sorts of unfortunate events leading to her demise. We get to see a rather creative way of getting a deceased person's corpse out of an apartment building too. The funniest scene and quite frankly a rather awkward scene as well has to be the dinner scene where the son finally introduces mother to prospective new wife to be. All in all this movie is really nice and sweet, the comedy is pretty tame for the most part with nothing to crude and the relationship between the couple seems more real than most romantic comedies these days.

After Maureen O'Hara died last month, I suddenly got the urge to order this-her last theatrical movie-from Netflix for me and my mom to watch when she came back from visiting my sister in Seattle. I was wonderfully surprised to find out my mom hadn't previously seen this as that meant she would watch this with fresh eyes as I had seen this on VHS tape back in the day and remember enjoying this at the time. We both very much loved this just now. I mean, Ms. O'Hara is her lovable self-provided her character is a tad bigoted though she's simply "telling it like it is". Her son, John Candy-another performer who's been missed since he passed away only a few years after this movie-is a cop who lives with her and has been quite lonely as a result. Then one day, he meets Ally Sheedy as someone who does makeup on deceased bodies when they're both at a wake and he bravely asks her out which she accepts. I'll stop there and just mention that some complications ensue but things seem to work out at the end. Fine support from Jim Belushi as Candy's cop partner and Anthony Quinn as a neighbor who is crushing on Ms. O'Hara. Written and directed by Chris Columbus, he does a nice mixing of drama and comedy when the sequences call for it and also makes good use of the Chicago locations (a city I was born in and lived as a child for about 6 years as well as one I visited quite a bit during the '80s). Anyway, Only the Lonely is a fine tribute to the careers of both Candy and O'Hara before their untimely deaths. Oh, and Quinn as well before he passed several years later.

John Candy was a gift, he made any movie he was in better for just being in it. This is one of those instances. While the movie isn't bad, it wouldn't be remembered if it wasn't for Candy. Sheedy puts in a great performance in this and is always likable.

ONLY THE LONELY gives such rich roles to JOHN CANDY and MAUREEN O'HARA as an Irish mother and son enduring a love/hate relationship while his outspoken mother "tells it like it is" to anyone who stands between her and her son. This includes the girl he's smitten with, a shy, introverted type (ALLY SHEEN) who wants him to stop putting his mother first under any and all situations.

He's constantly imagining bad things happening to his mother if he neglects her (and this leads to some funny, imaginative moments that have him imagining the nightmarish things that happen when he turns his back on her). All of these incidents are vividly portrayed and given substance and wit by a clever script and some very truthful performances from the entire cast.

MAUREEN O'HARA is so perfect as the hateful mother with her bigoted view of "that Dago girl" that she should have had at least an Oscar nomination for her feisty portrayal. JOHN CANDY creates a really sympathetic character as the man hopelessly in love with the quiet girl his mother despises. ANTHONY QUINN gives a gentle, finely shaded performance of the man next door who loves Maureen from afar and JOHN BELUSHI is excellent as Candy's worker friend.

It's a good mixture of comedy and drama that never becomes too mawkish or sentimental and exposes some of the hypocrisies of human nature that are not often shown on screen.

Well worth watching for the performances alone.

Roles like this helped make big John Candy somewhat of a beloved figure in his time. He was good at playing big, lovable oafs that usually messed up but had a good heart.

Many times, as in here, he might appear jovial on the outside but inside he was a very lonely guy, hence the title. I'll bet a number of viewers could identify with him. In this film he plays "Danny Muldoon."

Ally Sheedy's character, "Theresa Luna," is sweet in the beginning but then becomes unfairly-demanding and annoying by the end. Maureen O'Hara did a fine job playing "Danny's" domineering mother, "Rose." She came out of retirement to do this film and did herself proud. Anthony Quinn's role was stupid.

This movie is billed as a comedy but I didn't find a lot of laughs in it. It's really more of a sentimental drama, and it works on that level. I always enjoy seeing comedians do drama, because they are so good at doing it. I'm sorry Candy didn't make a few more dramatic roles.