~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY May 5 1994 Toronto's arts newspaper ...free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FILM FILM
THE FAVOR
Starring Harley Jane Kozak, Elizabeth McGovern,
Bill Pullman and Brad Pitt.
Screenplay by Sara Parriott and Josann McGibbon.
Directed by Donald Petrie. (AA)
by
Michael Leo
THE FAVOR, a sex comedy that's been hovering in distribution limbo for several years, offers a new solution to the problems of middle-aged boredom and extramarital sex.
It goes like this: thirtysomething housewife Harley Jane Kozak loves husband Bill Pullman, but longs to consummate her relationship with high-school sweetheart Ken Wahl. (He never made it to home base.) She wants to both relive the past, and rewrite it.
So she persuades her pal, Elizabeth McGovern, who's involved with Brad Pitt, to seduce Wahl, report back on the experience and settle the matter by proxy.
Now the glitch: the deed is done, but Kozak is outraged to learn from McGovern that the earth moved. Kozak's sense of deprivation becomes more, not less, acute. And so begins a series of sexual misunderstandings that are traditional and tireless within the genre of bedroom comedy.
THE FAVOR has scattered chuckles and is generally amiable. How droll you find it may rest on your tolerance for Kozak, who plays a self-obsessed manipulator who treats other folk like extensions of herself--not quite a roaring sociopath, but she'll do until one comes along.
My limit was tested when, after pushing her chum to be her sexual stand-in, interfering in the romances of others and driving her genial husband nuts, she justifies her actions by explaining that she wanted to feel "like a babe" and "get that rush you had when you were 16."
Oh, please. What about parental interference, the insufferable teachers, the embarrassing, inexperienced sex and the zits that sprouted like weeds? Is "16 forever" such a great deal?
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