Conference bookie::movies

859.0. "Forget Paris" by ONOFRE::SKELLY_JO () Thu Jun 22 1995 01:04

    This has been out awhile. I'm surprised there's no topic for it.

    This is the new Billy Crystal movie, meaning, starring and directed by.
    Possibly produced, too. Billy plays Mickey, a referee for the NBA. When his
    estranged father dies, he decides to grant his father's final request to be
    buried with his dead comrades in France. Billy and the coffin get on the
    same plane, but the airline manages to lose the coffin on the other end.
    After several funny encounters with French representatives of the airlines,
    an expatriated american representative, Ellen, played by Debra Winger, gets
    involved. She locates the coffin and meanwhile they discover they like each
    other. Mickey decides to stay for some sightseeing and Ellen agrees to play
    tourist guide. They fall in love. After some initial deliberation, they
    marry and Ellen gives up her job to move in with Mickey in California. But
    soon she discovers that his career keeps him on the road all the time and
    she becomes lonely and bored. Most of the movie is about their trying to
    reconcile their careers with their marriage.

    I thought this was an excellant romantic comedy. Some of the dialogue is
    perfectly hysterical and it even tries and succeeds at outright slapstick.
    At the same time, they never seem to lose track of the seriousness of the
    problem in the marriage, which certainly can be a problem for contemporary
    couples. Somehow that gives it a realistic edge, despite its gifted comedy.
    You end really up rooting for them to succeed, and meanwhile you get to
    laugh yourself silly. 

    Crystal has developed a distinct movie persona in such films as "When Harry
    Met Sally" and "City Slickers", and Mickey, if not exactly the same
    character, is at least a close relative. Winger has a more complex role,
    displaying a greater range of emotion, but also demonstrating that she is
    completely up to holding her own next to Crystal when it comes to comedy.
    There's also a really nice supporting cast. The whole story is revealed as
    various couples arrive in a restaurant to celebrate the engagement of one
    of Mickey's friends.  People take turns telling his fianc�e the story.
    Although these characters are certainly not thoroughly developed, they are
    invested with enough individuality to make a believable group of friends. I
    thought this expository device worked very well. There are even bonus
    laughs in the bit role of the waiter who's serving them. And of course, if
    you're an NBA groupie, there are actual players to spot. Cartoon lovers
    will spot the actor and actress who are the voices of Homer and Marge
    Simpson.

    Thumbs up.

    John
    

    
      I agree with 1.O and to prove it I've seen it twice.  Very
     entertaining.
     
       Gerry
    

The first half hour is non-stop laughs. It seems to calm down after
that, but still is very funny.

I thought the telling-of-the-story-through-the-friends device was going
to get stale, but it didn't.  It worked and they did some clever things
with it.  One of the friends would say "It was night and Ellen was
watching tv..." (scene of Ellen lounging on couch in the dark, watching
tv); another friend would break in "No, no it was in the daytime" (new
scene with Ellen in the daytime)... and so on until the friends agreed
and we could continue with the scene.

Clever dialog, plot twists, shots of Paris, NBA cameos: something for
everyone.

-Ann