THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 25, 1995 TAG: 9505250050
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
THERE ARE some big laughs in ``Forget Paris,'' but they don't add up to much of a romance for what must be one of the most unlikely duos of the movie year - Billy Crystal and Debra Winger. Put these two people in the same room and the last thing you'd predict is romance.
``Forget Paris'' has the misfortune of being released after ``While You Were Sleeping'' and ``French Kiss,'' two better romantic date movies. It doesn't really have the dewy-eyed romanticism to compete, but it does have lots of one-liners.
Come to think of it, it's too bad that Meg Ryan, who stars in ``French Kiss,'' and Billy Crystal couldn't have gotten together and gone to Paris. They were quite good in their own romantic hit, ``When Harry Met Sally . . . '' But here they are in separate movies about love in the City of Light.
``Forget Paris'' stars Crystal as a basketball referee who talks face-to-knee with the players. He's accustomed to being hated. Fans call him enough bad words to get the movie a PG-13 rating. He goes to Paris to bury his father, a man he hardly knew and generally despised. The airline loses the body, which brings him in contact with airline executive Debra Winger.
They have an idyllic affair in Paris, but when they end up married back in the States, things go sour - and so does the movie. They keep saying ``forget Paris'' as if to suggest that it's impossible to rekindle the spark of romance. Because the audience never saw any spark in the first place, the premise is all wet.
Winger is unflatteringly photographed; she looks quite matronly opposite the boyish Crystal. And she is no comedienne. She is, however, a good actress, which would have been enough if Crystal hadn't also directed the movie and decided that it should be a group of one-line jokes. Winger, in desperation, crosses her eyes and mugs, but Crystal was apparently looking more for a Lucille Ball type.
Winger, though, is given the movie's funniest scene - when a pigeon gets glued to her head.
The movie has no plot but does have a half-dozen subplots. It's an odd set-up at best. The couple's problems are trotted out in order. They have employment problems. She gives up her job in Paris. He gives up basketball. Her father (William Hickey from ``Prizzi's Honor'') comes to live with them and almost drives Crystal crazy. They have sexual imbalances. Finally, just when we thought every problem had been treated, they decide they want to have a child. Fertility rites ensue.
All this is narrated by a group of rather long-winded friends. Cathy Moriarty, Joe Mantegna and Julie Kavner are among the friends.
While there is little involvement with the twosome on any dramatic or romantic level, there are numerous one-line jokes. They are funny, even if they sometimes don't sound as if the characters would have said them. It's a little as if a gag writer had written them for someone else's nightclub act.
Still, some of the jokes are real howlers. If you missed seeing Crystal on the Academy Awards show this year, this is your chance to catch up on his routine. But a group of jokes is not a movie, much less a romance. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by BRUCE McBROOM\ Castle Rock
Debra Winger and Billy Crystal face the trials of marriage after
falling in love in Paris.
Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``Forget Paris''
Cast: Billy Crystal, Debra Winger, Joe Mantegna, Cathy Moriarty,
Julie Kavner
Director: Billy Crystal
Screenplay: Billy Crystal, Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel
MPAA rating: PG-13 (language)
Mal's rating: two and 1/2 stars
Locations: Chesapeake Square in Chesapeake; Circle 6 and Main
Gate in Norfolk; Columbus, Lynnhaven 8, Kemps River in Virginia
Beach
by CNB