THE LOVE LETTER Reviewed by Jamie Peck
Rating: ** (out of ****) DreamWorks SKG / 1:28 / 1999 / PG-13 (language, sex) Cast: Kate Capshaw; Ellen DeGeneres; Tom Everett Scott; Tom Selleck; Julianne Nicholson; Geraldine McEwan; Blythe Danner; Gloria Stuart Director: Peter Ho-Sun Chan Screenplay: Maria Maggenti
Signed, sealed and delivered as the estrogen alternative to that boy behemoth known as "Star Wars," "The Love Letter" makes for smart weekend counter-programming - but number this keen calendar positioning among relatively few claims to brains. Still, it might go over, what with women pining for a romantic refresher from all the "Star"-fueled hype, some fairly imaginative marketing possibilities ("This weekend, make ‘Love,' not ‘War'") and a curiosity factor stemming from the following moral debate: Does Steven Spielberg catch the movie featuring wife Kate Capshaw, "Letter"'s lead and producer, or the movie helmed by 800-lb. gorilla pal and frequent collaborator George Lucas?
Actually, he's safe on both counts: Though Lucas' is the better film by far, Spielberg would still be able to honestly compliment his beloved on a job well done - especially since her easy-to-take performance breathes dimension into a direly underwritten character. Capshaw looks and performs great as Helen McFarquhar, a 40-ish divorcee and bookstore owner in a picaresque New England hamlet called Loblolly by the Sea. Life here is best described as leisurely, which is also a fine way to summarize the movie itself. Perhaps "Letter"'ll play better on video, where relaxed viewers can more so enjoy its sluggish (if sporadically amusing) rhythms curled on their couch with iced tea and Melba toast.
During a mail sort on an already steamy summer day, Helen discovers a four-paragraph profession of passion unsigned and anonymously dedicated. At first, she assumes the collegiate hunk (Tom Everett Scott) she recently hired for seasonal employment is pulling secret-admirer duties, while he, thinking the exact opposite when the note floats into his possession, flirts along aloofly. This relationship - the central story thread of many - steers clear of heavy, "How Helen Got Her Groove Back"-esque territory despite a considerable age difference between the photogenic participants. If little else, at least "The Love Letter" wisely doesn't present this fling as anything but lust amidst dustjackets.
The titular typing then falls into a variety of other hands, each reader figuring their own self as the intended recipient. This leads to a gentle comedy of errors that gets less and less funny the further it chugs along, diminishing returns which might have something to do with a tart supporting turn by Ellen DeGeneres. As Helen's acerbic co-worker, DeGeneres spouts off enough clever lines to keep the early scenes alive and snappy, but suddenly - and all too soon - her screen time is drastically reduced following a quickie quandary that's very indicative of "The Love Letter"'s inability to develop matters to the fullest. The movie only runs a scant 88 minutes.
With its ace joker temporarily out of the way, the film flails pretty much through the end credits, though there are a few good scenes left involving Capshaw and Scott. Tom Selleck, demonstrating appropriate subtlety, shows up for just enough of the movie to ensure prominent billing, but his role - an ex-beau of Helen's coping with mid-life strain - remains at a frustrating distance. Class acts Blythe Danner and "Titanic"'s Gloria Stuart also briefly swing by as Capshaw's mom and grandmom, respectively, though their impact on the drama is, in one case, non-existent, and, in the other, highly questionable. This cast may be a keeper, but return the rest of "The Love Letter" to sender.
© 1999 Jamie Peck E-mail: jpeck1@gl.umbc.edu Visit The Reel Deal Online: http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~jpeck1/ "The best possible argument for including [a shot of Bruce] Willis' genitals would have been that the movie, after all, contains everything else." -Roger Ebert on "Color of Night"
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