Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 4, 1995 TAG: 9503090039
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Judging by the reaction at one Friday matinee, about half the crowd - predominantly the older half - saw it as a moving four-hanky tearjerker. To the other half, it was cliched, sappy sentimentalism.
Based on producer/co-writer Max Apple's memoir, the film follows the relationship between Rocky Holeczek (Peter Falk) and his grandson Michael (D.B. Sweeney). In 1963, Rocky takes young Michael in after his parents die. Years later when circumstances are reversed, Michael invites Rocky to live with him.
To call Rocky crusty and cantankerous is a huge understatement. A Polish immigrant baker, he's got no use for anyone who won't work and stick to his - Rocky's - strict ideas about what's right and wrong. As a boy growing up in Pittsburgh, Michael could do worse. But when Michael enters med school and meets a girl, Beth (Julianne Moore), Rocky's uncompromising ways cause real problems. And there lies the central problem with "Roommates."
Rocky is a believably gruff, if one-dimensional curmudgeon. Despite heavy makeup that calls attention to itself, Peter Falk plays the part well with all the right rough edges.
But the cheap melodrama surrounding him is the stuff of bad television. All that's missing are the commercials.
As always, veteran director Peter Yates handles the material well enough. The spark that has made similar efforts, like "Breaking Away" so memorable is absent.
To be fair, those flaws didn't seem to bother those viewers who were predisposed to this kind of story. They got their hankies' worth. For everyone else though, "Roommates" is too predictable and too obviously manipulative to warrant a strong recommendation.
Roommates
**
A Hollywood Pictures release playing at the Tanglewood Mall. 107 min. Rated PG for a little rough language, medical scenes.
by CNB