A SMILE LIKE YOURS
** (out of ****)
Paramount / 1:39 / 1997 / R (language, sex-related material) Cast: Greg Kinnear; Lauren Holly; Joan Cusack; Jay Thomas; Jillian Hennessy; Christopher McDonald; Shirley MacLaine Director: Keith Samples Screenplay: Kevin Meyer; Keith Samples
Romantic comedies centering around fertility aren't made very often, and it's easy to see why. Gene Wilder's "Funny About Love" was absolutely excruciating to watch. And anybody remember the Shelly Long-Corbin Bernsen sperm bank vehicle "Frozen Assets"? You likely answered in the negative, which proves my point exactly. Keith Samples' "A Smile Like Yours" isn't a terrible movie, but it's also not a good one, proving this rarely-filmed subgenre can't do much except shoot blanks.
"A Smile Like Yours" centers around photogenic San Francisco yuppie couple Danny and Jennifer Robertson (Greg Kinnear and Lauren Holly); he's a successful building contractor, she's the successful entrepreneur of an aromatherapy shop. Jennifer's latest concoction is a kind of aphrodisiac, called "Seventh Scent," that she's always "testing" on her husband in extremely inconvenient places (i.e., the freight elevator at his work). But little does Danny know that she's really using her new scent for another purpose -- she's also trying to get pregnant, but their ever-so-frequent intercourse sessions yield little but stiff joints.
After getting it on for the umpteenth time -- and still getting her period shortly thereafter -- Jennifer has herself checked for infertility. The doc assures her she's fine. So, she sneaks a semen sample from Danny (and, for some reason, hides it in their tub of Country Crock) and has that analyzed at the clinic. Turns out he's got what they call "lazy swimmers," a condition that his frequent trips to the Masturbatorium ("You might wanna check out that new video -- 'Romancing the Bone,'" taunts the attending specialist) and her just-as-frequent in-vitro fertilization try to alleviate.
There's not much new territory covered in "A Smile Like Yours," but the movie's lack of originality could have been remedied if the material was juicy, funny or entertaining. But it's rarely any one of those three, and thus the film plays out like "Look Who's Talking" with a truckload of jack-off jokes in place of the gabby newborn. Occasionally, there's a good scene you'll catch yourself smiling at -- and many of them involve the Robertson's trips to the clinic and Danny's dealings with a surly nurse -- but your facial expression fades almost as quickly as it got there.
"A Smile Like Yours" exhibits disaster warnings early on. It's not a good sign when the main characters visit a kareoke bar and a significant portion of screen time is devoted to the performances of others, nor does it bode well that musical montages are employed numerously. The plot veers off in a silly dramatic direction when it's got about a half-hour to go, and involves such unbelievably gooey situations as Danny's explained need to have Jennifer present in the Masturbatorium while he's making his "deposit." And the ending is an unsatisfyingly pat, fast resolution that makes a mockery of its own premise.
As far as the characters go, Kinnear's Danny is imbued with the star's effortless charm, but Holly's Jennifer comes across as a whiny wimp. It's baffling, then, that the subplot devoted to him -- he is tempted by his "Disclosure"-esque man-eating corporate boss, the only kind of female overseer that movies seem to use these days -- is far less interesting than her quest to market her new fragrance along with work pal/scene-stealer Joan Cusack. But baffle is what "A Smile Like Yours" appears to do best, placing two appealing stars and a handfull of clever material in service of a stuffy, synthetic story.
© 1997 Jamie Peck E-mail: jpeck1@gl.umbc.edu Website: www.gl.umbc.edu/~jpeck1/
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