TILL THERE WAS YOU 1997
A film review by Timothy Voon
Copyright 1998 Timothy Voon
2 :-( :-( for all the others before you
Cast: Jeanne Tripplehorn, Dylan McDermott, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Aniston, Craig Bierko, Steve Antin, Patrick Malahide, Karen Allen Director: Scott Winant Screenplay: Winnie Holzman
This movie should have been more aptly titled, ‘ALL THE OTHER PEOPLE I HAD SEX WITH, UNTIL THERE WAS YOU.'
Gwen Moss (Jeanne Triplehorn), had always thought that her parents were the perfect couple. She imagined that when she grew up, she would meet the man of her dreams and like her parents, live her life in perfect marital bliss. Boy was she wrong.
The first man was `Divine', a handsome college professor of literature, that was until she found out he was also fucking all the other boys and girls in class. The second was `Right', a dashing publicist for the rich and famous, that was until she found out he was obsessed with someone else. The third was `Perfect', a childhood sweetheart running for mayor, that was until she found out he cared more about his career than her. All of these men, TILL THERE WAS YOU.
Nick Dawkan (Dylan McDermott), came from a broken home rife with parental discord. Like everyone else, he was searching for true love.
His first love was purely `Sexual', a college sweetheart and we know that a relationship based on sex, doesn't last. The second had great `Looks', but that doesn't last either. The third was the result of a childhood crush on a TV star (Sarah Jessica Parker). Immeasurable expectations only breeds immeasurable disappointment, when the real person does not live up to her on screen persona. All of these women, TILL THERE WAS YOU.
So when Nick and Gwen meet over a cigarette, outside a Smoker's Anonymous meeting room, how do we know they are right for each other? They could simply be number four in the long line of sexual contacts. A relationship based purely on ‘we share something in common' (loneliness and smoking), does not necessarily equate to true love. This is the movie's major flaw. We are shown why their other relationships failed, but we aren't shown why they are right for each other. They meet, they look compatible, they have some common interests i.e. poetry, old buildings, but this could simply be a prequel for a one-night-stand, and not the precursor for a long lasting relationship.
Unfortunately, this is not the movie that will launch Jeanne Tripplehorn or Dylan McDermott into the greater public eye. Sarah Jessica Parker, is as usual, entertaining as the ex-childhood TV star.
Timothy Voon e-mail: stirling@netlink.com.au Movie Archives http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Tim+Voon Hugues Bouclier's Movies in Melbourne http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~bouclier/week/movies.html
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