Addicted to love
A Griffin Dunne Movie With Meg Ryan, Matthew Broderick, Kelly Preston, Tchéky Karyo
The astronomer Sam (Broderick) and the teacher Linda (Preston) , a blonde angel, are the perfect American small town couple. He watches the stars and everyday at noon his love in a nearby park. He could go on like this forever. She escapes to New York City.
Sam goes after her and discovers that meanwhile she is living with Frenchman Anton (Karyo). So he moves into an abandoned house across the street and waits for her to come back.
Then Antons crazy ex-fiancée Maggie (Ryan) moves in with him. Her intentions aren't quite as innocent as his. She wants to vaporize her ex. To seperate the faithless lovers is only the first step. Anton has to suffer much more. He looses his restaurant, his furniture is reposessed and finally he is disfigured by the effects of a strawberry allergy.
Of course the story ends well, mainly because Sam is so incredibly GOOD. But before we get there we can have a few hearty laughs.
I don't know what I like best: the wild couple Ryan/Broderick or the idea to use the Camera Obscura.
Teddy bear Broderick collides with hard drinking leather wearing biker girl Ryan. Both are excellent. You buy both the funny and the more serious parts of their roles.
They make the other couple fade out. Especially Linda. She is blonde and sweet. Besides we owe her two zany appearances of her father who alway has to deliver the 'Dear John'-letters to her ex-lovers.
Anton is the cliché Frenchman. In the end you almost sympathize with him, when even his furniture is taken away, his skin itches and he breaks both his arms. But not quite.
The Camera Obscura Sam uses to bring Linda's picture into his run-down apartment provides us with beautiful images. One scene where Maggie and Sam sit on the couch with a bag of potatoe chips and watch their exes like a TV program reminded me of "When Harry met Sally".
I have to mention the set design. Everything is perfect: Ryans outfits, the abandoned house and especially the collage Maggie makes in the course of the movie.
One thing I did not like was the timid attempt to justify Maggie's revenge. It didn't fit into the comedy and wasn't pursued consequently enough to lend some depth to the story.
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