Reputations can be deceptive. For example, director Scott Winant and writer Winnie Holzman are best known for their involvement in TV's ``thirtysomething'' and ``My So-Called Life,'' two shows that addressed real-life concerns without sitcom moralizing and phoney happy endings.
It's now trendy to laugh at the ``yuppie angst'' of ``thirtysomething,'' but take another look and you'll find a consistently well-written series. The short-lived, much-loved ``Life'' (which introduced the miracle that has become Claire Danes) was even better, offering the most credible look at teen-age life of any show since ``Family'' in the late '70s.
But ``'Til There Was You,'' which Winant directed and Holzman wrote, is pure plastic, flat and transparent. All involved were all too obviously aiming for another ``Sleepless In Seattle,'' but what they've produced is a cinematic siesta. The honesty of the duo's TV work is gone, replaced by a synthetic airy-fairy atmosphere that quickly becomes stifling.
Holzman's meandering screenplay revolves around architect Nick (Dylan McDermott) and ghostwriter Gwen (Jeanne Tripplehorn), who've separately led parallel lives, destined to intersect.
Both Nick and Gwen do work that goes unappreciated. Nick's grandiose visions of design, such as putting a rooftop garden atop a homeless shelter, don't suit his firm. Gwen, a scribe for illiterate celebrities, realizes, ``I never put my name on anything I write.'' Each of them has also amassed a resume of lovers without finding much fulfillment.
They also have nicotine addiction in common, and so many cigarettes are consumed during this movie you may want to burn incense and set out dishes of vinegar. It may be Holzman's idea of retro-chic; most people will find it contempo-disgusting.
The magnet that will eventually draw Nick and Gwen together turns out to be Francesca Lanfield (Sarah Jessica Parker), a burnt-out former child star trying to reheat what's left of her legend by publishing her memoirs. Once an adorable moppet on TV's popular ``One Big, Happy,'' Francesca is now a salty-tongued veteran of numerous rehab clinics. ``Yes, it's me and no, I'm not dead,'' she says when greeting fans.
Nick meets her when Francesca sells the apartment complex she owns to a developer, and the predatory actress soon has him under her spell. Gwen is hired by Francesca when the would-be autobiographer decides to let someone else do the job. Thanks to a string of coincidences, Nick and Gwen manage to avoid meeting, even though it's obvious that two people as dull as they are certainly deserve each other.
Tripplehorn and McDermott are badly miscast. Tripplehorn's attempts at slapstick are embarrassing, while McDermott's sullen intensity is completely wrong for this kind of fluff.
The only joy in the film comes from Parker, so delightfully sweet in the recent Broadway revival of ``Once Upon a Mattress,'' and so deliciously sour here as the jaded Francesca. The acid Parker injects into comments like ``this is extremely non-enjoyable'' is a welcome antidote to Holzman's syrup.
The rest of the supporting cast does what they can with what they're given, which is generally not much. As Gwen's lifelong friend, Jennifer Aniston begins building an interesting character, only to disappear abruptly from the story.
Michael Tucker, playing Gwen's deceptive dad, contributes the film's brightest scene, when he confesses the truth about his marriage to Gwen's mother. Tucker and Tripplehorn strike sparks, and for a brief moment ``'Til There Was You'' soars above the humdrum and approaches hilarity. But with Tucker's exit, the movie clunks back to earth and dawdles along to its surprise-free finale.
James Sanford
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