LIEBERMAN IN LOVE
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1996 James Berardinelli
Alternative Scale: ***1/2 out of ****
United States, 1995 Running Length: 0:39 MPAA Classification: No MPAA Rating (Profanity, sex) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Danny Aiello, Christine Lahti, Nancy Travis Director: Christine Lahti Screenplay: Polly Platt based on the book by W.P. Kinsella Cinematography: Marc Reshovsky Music: Stewart Levin U.S. Distributor: To be shown on Showtime
LIEBERMAN IN LOVE, actor Christine Lahti's delightful directorial debut, won the 1996 Oscar for Best Live Action Short. I can't say whether it was better than the other four nominees (I haven't seen any of them), but, based solely on this film's merits, it's worthy of the honor. As romantic comedies go, this one is top-notch. In less than forty minutes, LIEBERMAN IN LOVE adds a few fresh twists to an old, often-exhausted genre. The only drawback is that, by the movie's end, you're left wanting more. LIEBERMAN IN LOVE probably has enough material to warrant a full-length feature.
Danny Aiello (CITY HALL), the crusty, veteran actor who often plays tough guys, allows his comic and sensitive sides to show in a superlative turn as Joe Lieberman, a widower of nine months on vacation in Hawaii. Joe is unsuccessfully trying to pick up women when he encounters Shaleen (Christine Lahti), a hooker who believes there's "no such thing as falling in love", only "falling in lust". Joe, who doesn't have any financial worries, pays Shaleen's price, then keeps dishing out the money so that she'll stick around to listen to his stories, laugh at his jokes, give him advice, and keep him company. Meanwhile, he's looking for the perfect woman, whom he eventually finds in the person of a timid real estate agent named Kate (Nancy Travis). One problem, though -- she's married.
Working opposite Aiello, Lahti and Travis are equally good. Travis, who lights up the screen in a way that she hasn't since THREE MEN AND A BABY, exhibits an appealing vulnerability as the apparently- guileless object of Joe's affection. Lahti (LEAVING NORMAL), who has, in my opinion, always been underrated as an actress, directs herself with near perfection as the cynical, tough-talking prostitute who wishes life was more than money and a series of Johns.
LIEBERMAN IN LOVE is everything that this sort of film should be -- funny, romantic, and occasionally unpredictable. The movie won't be playing in any local multiplexes, but it is getting wide exposure at film festivals, and will air sometime in 1996 on the Showtime TV network, which funded the project. Whether you see it on the big screen or the small one, however, LIEBERMAN IN LOVE is worth searching out.
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net web: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
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