A middle-aged husband (Anthony Hopkins) falls for a beautiful young woman (Bo Derek). His wife (Shirley MacLaine) starts her own affair in retaliation.
I caught this in a theatre in Massachusetts in 1980. It was filmed on location around there and I was curious to see how the state looked on the big screen. There was a bit of controversy while the film was being shot here--Hopkins HATED working with Derek because she refused to rehearse. He threatened to quit more than once. After seeing the film I wish he had quit! The script is by the numbers and not even remotely funny (this was supposed to be a romantic comedy). MacLaine and Hopkins do their best with the material but not even their considerable acting talents can save this. Every single event was predictable and boring. Also Derek's complete lack of acting talent is almost painful to watch. I don't care how beautiful she is--the woman just can't act! Hopkins hatred for her comes through loud and clear.
This did nothing for the stars careers. Derek already had "10" out and Hopkins had "The Elephant Man" but MacLaine did this and another dreadful "comedy" called "Loving Couples" at the same time. She did point out in her book that they were both awful and almost ruined her career. Good thing she did "Terms of Endearment" a few years later.
I had blocked this movie out completely but I saw a bit of it on TV recently and all the bad memories came rolling back. Also if you're just watching this to see Derek nude it happens during the opening credits and that's about it. A really bad film--1 all the way.
