Spielberg deserves a fresh look. I open with that because as I read the decidedly mixed thoughts on this and other films of his, I notice the same thought over and over again. People who review Spielberg usually want to pigeonhole him into a type: the ET-warm-and-fuzzy-alien children's storyteller versus the special-effects-heavy-but-rather-empty-plot dreamer. All the while there is the generic whine of 'why doesn't he ever try to do something else (SCHINDLER'S LIST notwithstanding)?' Then when he does, as evidenced here, there are wails of dissatisfaction that he tried to do something over his head. Oy.
It's so silly to label and categorize a filmmaker so much. ALWAYS is, first and foremost, a love story. A remake of an earlier film to be sure, but even this 1989 treatment looks and feels nostalgic with its amber-tinted cinematography, the sentimental presentation of the devoted fighter pilots, even Holly Hunter's birthday gift of 'girl clothes' tips a hat to 1940's elegance. And you can't get more nostalgic than the appearance of the ageless, magical Audrey Hepburn (sharp as a tack in her last film as a bright-eyed, no-nonsense angel). All of Hepburn's scenes with Richard Dreyfuss are wonderful (especially the first one when she tries- slightly befuddled- to explain his state of existence), as is the leitmotiv of "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes-" used in two dance sequences with Dreyfuss and Hunter: one at a charming birthday party (watching all the burly firemen clean up is a riot), the other in a bewitching soliloquy of mourning. And once again, John Goodman rises to the occasion as the best friend anyone could ever have. Just saw it on TCM, rounding out a July 2005 tribute to Ms. Hepburn. You should check it out.
