'TIL THERE WAS YOU
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1997 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): *
"God, I love methamphetamines -- more than life itself," confesses ex-TV child star Francesca Lansfield (Sarah Jessica Parker). Francesca, who played Taffy on the perennially popular show called "One Happy Family" (think "Brady Bunch"), is fresh out of drug rehab. All of the men who grew up watching her have the hots for her now, and she says she is not shy since "my tits grew up on national television." (This last line and the incident where Jeanne Tripplehorn runs into a barrier were the only times the audience at the screening came alive.)
Scott Winant, who was one of the directors of the TV series "My So-Called Life," directs 'TIL THERE WAS YOU. Filmed by Bobby Bukowski in shades of pastel, the movie tries hard, too hard, to be a whimsical, romantic comedy. I've never seen Winant's television work, but this movie, Winant's first theatrical film, arrived DOA at the screening, and his direction as well as the disastrous script by Winnie Holzman were the culprits.
I spent most of the movie staring at the screen in disbelief. The dialog is little more than a collection of snippets of meaningless small talk, and the direction is so muddled that it takes quite a while to sort out what is happening and who is who. The bad news is that when the story does become clear, you will not care. The characters are as artificial as their favorite restaurant, whose interior is constructed out of aluminum triangles.
Jeanne Tripplehorn, who was terrific in BASIC INSTINCT, plays a ghost writer named Gwen Moss. Moss laments that she has missed the golden 10 minute window in her life when she was old enough to be married but not too old. Her life has gone down hill ever since.
Dylan McDermott is architect Nick Dawkan. Nick, who claims to be just about the only man in America who never saw "One Happy Family," has Francesca as his live-in lover. She has his body, but his mind pines for an unknown female letter writer to the local newspaper.
Midway through the movie, in a scene with Gwen's dad (Michael Tucker), it looks momentarily as if the film will finally get its footing. Her dad, who manages to be both funny and the only believable character in the film, bursts Gwen's bubble. "I'm going to tell you something important," he says while munching candy. "I never loved your mother. Not real love." She was shocked, and so was I, but then the film went right back to its plastic characters and her dad vanished. (You can almost hear the director screaming, "Get him off my set; he's not whimsical.")
Perhaps most offensive is the story's attitude toward smoking. It is way cool. You half expected to see a Joe Camel ad in the closing credits. Smoking represents rebellion and camaraderie among the characters. It used after sex and even instead of sex -- complete with heavy, erotic panting.
To complement the film's painfully slow pacing, the unrelenting music by Terence Blanchard and Miles Goodman has a staccato piano that will begin to feel like water torture. I felt like the music was trying brainwash me into believing the film's drivel through the music's repetitive romantic rhythms, which had all of the charm of a stuck record needle.
Gwen's lover, Bob, proposes his solution to their romantic difficulties. "I think we should go to Paris," he suggests to her at the aforementioned aluminum restaurant. "Surrounded by rude French people should bring us closer together." With dialog like this why did the producers go forward with this project? The movie needs a rewrite and a new director. The cast would work if it had reasonable material.
'TIL THERE WAS YOU runs 1:44. The film is rated PG-13 for language, sexual suggestions and drug references. The picture is remarkably tame and would be fine for kids 10 and over, but why bother? I recommend you avoid the film, and I give it a single star for a good cast trapped in awful movie.
**** = A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = Totally and painfully unbearable picture.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: April 17, 1997
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
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