THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 30, 1996 TAG: 9601300036
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
THERE ARE almost no thorns in this ``Bed of Roses.'' As romances go, this pre-Valentine's Day fairy tale goes so smoothly that there's practically nothing to do but watch - and revel in the fact that spring can't be that far away.
She loves him, even though he may be a stalker. He loves her, even if she does cry a lot and stays aloof for no apparent reason. This is the dating flick of the week - a movie that is about absolutely nothing, but is pleasant enough.
She, Mary Stuart Masterson, looking more like a movie starlet than ever before, is a workaholic career woman who lives for making deals. It's a Doris Day role, a pert working girl with an endless wardrobe of chic clothes. She is sad about her self-inflicted loneliness.
He, Christian Slater, complete with wavy hair and sensitive bearing, sees her crying in the window and sends her flowers.
She wonders who sent them. Investigating, she quickly finds out.
In another movie, he might have been a stalker. This could have been a ``Fatal Attraction.'' But in this movie, Slater is near perfect. Unknown to Masterson, he's not just any delivery boy. He's a former Wall Street wiz who gave up the rat race because he loves to see people being happy when he delivers flowers.
So, what's the matter with this girl? Where is this movie headed anyway?
With ``Untamed Heart'' one of the top-renting videos for home-based romance these nights, half the women in America might wonder why Masterson keeps a slight distance. Slater, who starred in that 1993 film, is a perfect candidate to play Mr. Right.
This thoroughly pleasant but inconsequential movie wanders pointlessly as Slater sends more flowers, then Masterson backs off while visiting his family at Christmas. There are troubling little secrets in their background, but they're tiny secrets.
Masterson is woefully miscast as a tough career woman. But then, so was Doris Day.
Slater plays Mr. Nice Guy nicely. He's dropped some of the gravel in his voice that has made people compare him to Jack Nicholson. Still, he does look as if he were searching for a movie somewhere in all this wandering.
Pamela Segall is particularly noisy as the wisecracking best friend. Josh Brolin is suitably undesirable as her regular boyfriend.
This is a perfectly cajoling time-waster. If you want a more substantial romantic movie, try ``Sense and Sensibility.'' If you want Slater, this is the one.
Unabashedly borrowing from ``Breakfast at Tiffany's,'' the theme seems to be that if you wander about New York long enough, play enough music in the background, and send enough roses - something is bound to happen, sooner or later.
In this film, it's later. ILLUSTRATION: MOVIE REVIEW
``Bed of Roses''
Cast: Christian Slater, Mary Stuart Masterson, Pamela Segall,
Josh Brolin, Debra Monk, Mary Alice
Director and Writer: Michael Goldenberg
MPAA rating: PG (only a tame, after-love scene)
Mal's rating: **1/2
Locations: Greenbrier 13, Chesapeake; Main Gate, Norfolk; Kemps
River Crossing, Lynnhaven 8, Pembroke, Virginia Beach
by CNB