Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 27, 1993 TAG: 9303270210
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRIS GLADDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That tells you a lot about the movie itself. It's a well-intentioned comedy drama that treats its characters and central issues with a bland superficiality, Muzak for the screen. No surprise here because the director is Arthur Hiller, whose trademark seems to be workmanlike, risk-free movies that operate on the surface.
This is a story about six people who are brought together through a PTA pageant being planned for an upscale private school. The six are predictably diverse.
John (Beau Bridges) is a social worker and Iris (Stockard Channing) works for a city agency as well. They're '60s survivors who have managed to hold on to their old ideals while struggling to make a living at low-paying jobs.
Chuck (Robert Sean Leonard) is a stockbroker and Nina (Mary Stuart Masterson) is a psychologist at the tony school. They're a bright, Midwestern couple who were in the '60s.
Leo (Ron Silver) is a toy manufacturer and Claire (Cybill Shepherd) is a high-powered banker and Leo's second wife. These two are having difficulty dealing with Leo's 13-year-old daughter, who is resentful of Claire.
The story is more constructed than told. There are the tedious dinners during which the couples become almost instant friends. There are the confrontations between each set of spouses over their own brand of problems. Then there are the male and female bonding rituals that turn into support sessions for various members of the group.
Therefore, most of the movie unfolds in dialogue that consists of rather forced witticisms.
Shepherd tells the rest of the bunch when they're still strangers "I do my best work in the boardroom - and the bedroom." You kind of get the drift.
While there's nothing particularly convincing in the script, the movie at least aspires to something other than mindless escapism. It's kind of a clarion call to wipe out class and age differences. But it does so with a thin and reedy voice.
The performances are generally effective. Bridges and Channing are likable old hippies. Masterson and Leonard are likable new yuppies. And Silver and Shepherd - well, you have to factor in the Shepherd phenomenon. Not since "The Last Picture Show" has she given anything like a believable performance. But she's still kind of entertaining as she applies the dinner-theater school of acting to this brassy woman. Silver is solid as usual.
\ Married to It:* An Orion picture at Salem Valley 8 (389-0444). Rated R for language and sexual content. 115 minutes.
by CNB