THE LAY OF THE LAND By Harvey Karten, Ph.D. Northern Arts Entertainment Director: Larry Arrick Writer: Mel Shapiro Cast: Sally Kellerman, Ed Begley, Jr., Tyne Daly, Stuart Margolin, Sandra Taylor
"In and Out," "Private Parts," "The Lay of the Land." The folks making up movie titles appear to be in competition for best double entendres with the makers of XXX videos. In the last instance, writer Mel Shapiro's screenplay has been opened up for the screen, but Larry Arrick's direction is unable to convince us that this is really not in essence a two-character play that should have remained on the stage--or on the tube. It's a small tale, a thin story which cannot sustain its 94 minutes, filled with cartoonish supporting characters and a theme of late mid-life and marital crisis which by now appears stale. Obviously Sally Kellerman's lead role cannot compare to her best-known work, in "M*A*S*H," but to get an idea of how fragile her role is in "The Lay of the Land" you need only rent the video of "Back to School" and marvel at her rendition of the part of an academic. The best thing about the current work, co-produced by Ms. Kellerman and her real-life husband Jonathan D. Krane is the soundtrack, which features her sexy rendition of the song, "Questions." The Big Question is "Does he love me still?" and in a movie which does not prohibit sentimentality, you know the answer.
Kellerman plays the role of a graduate school film instructor, M.J. Dankworth, who has become so complacent in her marriage and her profession that she has fallen behind on her dream project: to film in Brazil. Her husband, Harvey (Ed Begley Jr.) has a similar predicament: he is coming up for tenure as an instructor in Russian literature but his book on Pushkin is going nowhere. As he hits the Big 5-0, his fiftieth birthday, he is unable to concentrate on much of anything; that is, until his grad student Muriel Johanson (Sandra Taylor) who seems to come right out of a centerfold takes an interest this man--who is older than her father. Muriel seduces Harvey with such subtle lines as assuring him that she works out with a personal trainer to avoid being distracted by her horniness. M.J., who is seeing an analyst over a hand wrapped in gauze to treat a psychosomatic allergy throws off such quips as "If my hand isn't better, do I pay you anyway?" Director Larry Arrick comes across best when he occasionally displays surreal episodes to represent momentary daydreams of her subjects. Rapidly edited scenarios feature M.J. with Dr. Guttmacher (Tyne Daly) in an assortment of functions, while Harvey dreams only of his new young sweetheart encouraging his advances. Some cartoonish characters like Dean Bill Whittier (Avery Schreiber) appear now and then, the most egregiously silly being Carmine Ficcone (Stuart Margolin), a private investigator hired by M.J. whom she meets at his ranch and who is determined to seduce her (he's Italian). The story descends into further banality when M.J.'s woman friend describes the compromises she has made to keep her marriage together: she tolerates her husband's affairs with another man. The most mature person in the film is Dr. Smith (Patrick Desmond), Harvey's psychotherapist. He doesn't talk. Rated R. Running Time: 94 minutes. (C) 1997 Harvey Karten
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