THE STORY OF US A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1999 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
Rob Reiner's THE STORY OF US, starring Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer, could have been more aptly titled SCREAM were that name not already taken. Opening opposite FIGHT CLUB, it feels the more violent of the two, even if the combatants in THE STORY OF US confine their weapons to shouting matches. (You may want to bring earplugs, these two angry spouses can get awfully loud.)
Watching these two attractive actors verbally slug it out is about as much fun as experiencing your own divorce. With its choppy editing, the film's images fly by like a music video, destroying the effect of many scenes which on their own contain little gems of truth.
When we meet Ben and Katie Jordan (Willis and Pfeiffer), they are visiting their respective analysts. The story of their arguments is frequently interrupted -- actually the whole movie feels like one long interruption -- by visits to various analysts and marriage counselors.
Although the story reportedly concerns the entirety of a marriage, in reality it focuses on the end game, as their marriage is torn to shreds. They have two amazingly well adjusted teenagers, who are somehow oblivious to their parents' difficulties. Since neither child has a hearing problem, this becomes very hard to believe. Perhaps one of the secrets is that the kids appear to spend all summer, every summer, at camp.
Between his film's emotional outbursts, director Reiner, working from a script by Alan Zweibel and Jessie Nelson, tosses the audience the opportunity for a few cheap laughs. They might be laughs, if we were in the mood. There's nothing wrong, of course, with downer pictures like this one, assuming the story has honesty and insight, something sorely lacking in this picture full of missed opportunities.
"The Ten Commandments were probably easier to stick to when we all died at 35," Dave (Paul Reiser) tells Ben over lunch. Another example of the film's message-based humor comes from Stan (Reiner). "Love is just lust, and lust fades," Stan explains to Ben.
Ben and Katie don't have many problems other than their personalities, which ignite periodically in huge, unprovoked explosions. The story offers few insights into why they flare up like rockets at each other. The only thing that seems clear is that the only time they truly like each other is when they are apart.
After an hour and a half of misery, admittedly interlaced with memories of some of their good times, the story in the last few minutes has the characters make an abrupt change. Completely out of left field, Reiner sticks on a feel-good ending that rings completely false. Admittedly, he telegraphs this in the first scene, but the body of the movie argues against the ending's huge copout. It feels like an ending devised by a test group who couldn't stand what was happening and demanded that the stars relent in the end.
THE STORY OF US runs 1:32. It is rated R for language and brief sexuality and would be acceptable for teenagers.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
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