Speechless (1994)

reviewed by
Ben Hoffman

                                  SPEECHLESS
                       A film review by Ben Hoffman
                        Copyright 1994 Ben Hoffman

This a typical boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl-back, boy loses girl-again, and on and on, over and over. The only difference between SPEECHLESS and the hundreds of others of its genre (or "ilk") is that this one is about two speech-writers, one for a Republican Senatorial candidate and the other for his opponent. This latter may remind you of the recent marriage of James Carville, the brains behind Clinton's campaign, and Mary Matalin, one of the leading lights helping Bush. However, that is mere coincidence, Life imitating Art.

More interesting than the love story is how the candidates read the speeches over which their writers have labored. They sound so much like TV Anchors who frequently seem not to have the foggiest idea about the text they are reading so beautifully and with so much charm. The film contains a gag about a teleprompter that has been tampered with leading the candidate to recite "Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah."

While both Davis and Keaton are charmingly delightful and loving as always, they seem to be even more so here and after a while it begins to get a bit dull. Christopher Reeve and Bonnie Bedelia help keep the film going but their efforts are in vain.

Directed by Ron Underwood, whose CITY SLICKERS was a great comedy.

2.5 Bytes
4 Bytes = Absolutely must see.
3 Bytes = Too good to be missed.
2 Bytes = So so.
1 Byte  = Save your money.

Ben Hoffman

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