~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY May 5 1994 Toronto's arts newspaper ...free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FILM FILM
WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN
Starring Meg Ryan and Andy Garcia.
Screenplay by Ronald Bass and Al Franken.
Directed by Luis Mandoki. (STC) Opens May 6.
by
Gary Michael Dault
WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN is a good-hearted movie about alcoholism and it really wants, I think, to help, to understand, to offer hope. What it succeeds in doing, however, is to pretty up the problem to the point where it's all just matter of mutual adjustment, really. No big deal. This does alcoholism a disservice. And the audience, too.
Meg Ryan--who has the cutest gums in cinema--is Alice Green ("Hi, Alice!") and she's been an alcoholic for a long time. She has somehow managed to keep her problem from her extraordinarily loving husband, Michael (Andy Garcia--who has one of the most penetratingly loving gazes in cinema), for so long that it's a little hard to believe that Alice's squirreling away of litres of vodka in every nook and cranny of their well-appointed home is going unnoticed (she admits she's up to a quart a day).
Well, the children (two adorable little girls) notice, actually, and they end up finally making Mommy's difficulties clear to Daddy. Mom is behaving oddly, like one day falling through the glass shower door and lying there naked on the broken glass, looking dead.
Alice and Michael are way too good to be true. They smile way too much. The film feels liberal and enlightened because it proposes, quite correctly, that Alice's alcoholism is not her fault. What she gets instead of blame is endless empathy from Michael--so much self-sacrifice, so much spaniel-eyed support that you begin to long for a scene or two where one of them acts real. Alcoholism is whitewashed into some marital glitch, most of the problem being, apparently, that the doting Michael's paternalistic care for his wife makes her feel small and inept.
The script, by writer/executive producer Ronald Bass and writer/executive producer Al Franken, manages to be witty and smarmy all at the same time--no small feat, but one you might reasonably expect from Bass, who pens weepers like RAIN MAN and THE JOY LUCK CLUB, and from "Saturday Night Live" alumnus Al Franken, who obviously possesses more than just a hint of his own creation, the new-age cable TV host whose book I'M GOOD ENOUGH, I'M SMART ENOUGH, AND DOGGONE IT, PEOPLE LIKE ME: DAILY AFFIRMATIONS WITH STUART SMALLEY is a bestseller. The film is adequately directed by Luis Mandoki, whose Born Yesterday and White Palace have not kicked the envelope of contemporary cinema. It's also about 35 minutes too long.
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