Twice in a Lifetime

After 30 years of only reading about this movie, I finally watched this with my mom on Netflix disc. Gene Hackman plays a middle-aged man who feels his life is just routine. When he celebrates his 50th birthday, he does so at a bar without his family members-they had done so earlier-and meets Ann-Margret-a new barmaid there. Their affair is eventually revealed by someone who knows both. His wife-Ellen Burstyn-doesn't take it well, of course, but it's one of his daughters-Amy Madigan-who really flies off the handle when she finds out. I'll stop there and just say there's no false note here, it's portrayed quite honestly mostly from beginning to end. Ally Sheedy and Brian Dennehy round out the fine cast with good help from producer-director Bud Yorkin. This was a mostly fine drama. So on that note, Mom and me highly recommend Twice in a Lifetime. P.S. This review is dedicated in memory of Yorkin. Also, this was shot in Seattle where one of my sisters currently lives with her family.

I came home from work one day in Seattle to see Ann Margaret and Gene Hackman sitting on the steps of the apartment building next to my newer one. It was the set for Gene's crappy apt in the movie. I rushed upstairs and got a whte Tee and marker hnd got both to sign it. They could not have been any nicer. Most people were kept well back but since I lived there they had to let me through. I so hoped the movie was going to be a great movie but alas no. All the actors are at the very top of their games and if not for that this movie would have never been released as it isnt that good. I did appreciate that they tried to show a modern (at the time) divorce where daddy DIDNT come home and Mommy and daddy didnt become best friends. Ann was gorgeous and does some fine acting but Hackman and Burstyn are amazing. They both live their parts of a once happy marriage that has petrified and already dead. Ms Burstyn's portrayal of a woman who is afraid to live finally opening herself to a different life is truely beautiful. The script is just too thin with too many shortcuts where there should be none.

"Twice in a Lifetime" is one of only two films I have ever seen that is successful in showing lead characters who are both likable and unlikeable at different points in the movie...that is, showing the full range of what makes us "human." The other movie, by the way, was "Shoot the Moon," and I was surprised to see that someone else on this board also found similarities between the two.

I see some thought that Amy Madigan's "Sunny" character was too over-the-top, but I found her riveting and compelling. Others obviously did too, as I believe she was the most nominated actor/actress from this film.

Where in the world do people celebrate birthdays - 50th or otherwise - like they do down at Mo's Tavern. Hackman walks in and the place goes nuts as if all the barflies were just waiting for him to walk in. And then they stop the dancing so his buddy can give him a Seahawks jacket to the wild applause of the other patrons, followed by a big smooch from Ann-Margret working her first night at the bar.

Not a believable moment in that entire scene.

The home scenes are much more believable, with Ellen Burstyn showing a quiet dignity as the shop-worn wife. And to be fair during the quiet scenes, Hackman and Ann-Margret do very well together. For my money, Hackman can do no wrong as an actor.

The story doesn't really break any new ground, unfortunately. More like a Middle-Age Crisis Movie of the Week.

Nevertheless I want to get on record that if Ellen Burstyn were my wife, there's no way I'd be wandering off with a barmaid, regardless of whether that barmaid is Ann-Margret. It made me lose sympathy for Hackman. There, I said it.

TWICE IN A LIFETIME is an emotionally-charged family drama that, despite a somewhat muddled screenplay, still works thanks to some solid gold performances. Gene Hackman plays a Seattle steelworker who loves the Seahawks and seems content with his life as he prepares for the wedding of his younger daughter (Ally Sheedy), but still feels something missing in his life. His private mid-life crises move him to leave his devoted wife (Ellen Burstyn) and begin a relationship with a local barmaid (Ann-Margret). His wife resigns herself to his decision but his elder daughter (Amy Madigan) does not and refuses to let Dad off the hook. The screenplay is safe and predictable, but what makes this film worth watching is the powerhouse performances. Hackman's quiet and powerful turn as a man dealing with being at a crossroad he doesn't know how to handle' Burstyn's beautifully-realized vulnerability as the woman who is at a loss as to what went wrong in her marriage and Madigan, in a performance that earned her an Oscar nomination, icy and gripping as the daughter who refuses to accept her parents' divorce. Watching these wonderful actors take you through the roller-coaster of emotions involved in the rending apart of a family, make this movie something very special.