Where to start?
'A prize for every ticket bought'...
A well known and popular TV star in the leading role:
Cheryl Ladd - I'm glad she made a success of her career. However she is not the greatest actress ever, certainly not strong/charismatic enough to raise this tv movie to any level above cliché.
A legend in a subsidiary.. no... guest appearance, role - a few days easy work for the grandchildren's college fund. Sir John in automatic pilot... in fact he is asleep at the wheel: businessman, company in trouble Alex (his son being forced to give up his love.. blahdy blah).
Truly dreadful music! Really, truly hackneyed: saxophone and strings... even an exterior shot of a train - unfortunately not entering a tunnel for true comedic value, this movie is far too po- faced for that...as the returned love of Cheryl's life (Alex) gets her kit off and they 'do the dirty' in her cabin. Tho dirty+Cheryl Ladd in the same sentence is textbook oxymoron.
Bizarrely the producers have 2 marvellous musical tracks amongst the tired clichés. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (yes, Elton John) and Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce.
I'll list without comment more of the head-shakingly lazy, too satirical to satire threads.
Flashbacks - Cheryl is younger cos she has pigtails! Meets Alex (younger cos he is wearing a tank-top). Fun, joyful, 'best times of our lives' being wacky on our gap year music over appropriate scenes.
Cycling in France... as Middle - class students.. finding love?.. hey, but mummy and daddy will bail them out if reality bites.. but at a cost...
They will grow up to be successful... but with secrets and regrets!
Then the Planes, Trains and Automobiles (without the comedy) scene.
Now... poor Ruby Wax. Big on tv comedy/talk shows in the early 1980s, "this is a TV film and we need some 2 dimensional comedic relief" She lives in the moment, isn't the brightest it was Ruby all the way! (If this had been a totally American production poor Ruby would have missed out to a feisty 'says it how it is' wise, not book smart, but huge fun Black woman!) anyway she is best friend and alter ego of oh so tormented Cheryl - her alter ego. A sounding board for Cheryl - verbalising the flashbacks and pivotal moments for those at home who have been making a cuppa!
Ruby is given a great billing in 1985. Now, barely a mention.
Oh yes, Frenchmen do keep their brains in their underwear.
However - a positive - it must be said, Paris as a film set might well be cliché... but what a cliché! The filthy, rubbish strewn French capital is seen at its best in movies, even with the 21 inch tv variety in 1985.
