Moment by Moment

Stupid! Possibly the dumbest script for a full-budget movie in Hollywood history, and the "chemistry" between Tomlin and Travolta is utterly laughable. The direction is as clumsy as you are ever likely to see. Only a pretty lively soundtrack saves it from being my #1 worst movie of all-time. Feeling charitable, I give it 2/10.

"Moment By Moment" came out at a perfect in the career of John Travolta. Hot off the huge successes of "Saturday Night Fever" and "Grease" he must have thought he could do no wrong and boy was he ever wrong about that. You don't get much worse then "Moment By Moment" which is a silly love story between an older woman and a young man. A provocative idea you say? Perhaps, but there is nothing provocative about this movie.

Travolta and Lily Tomlin are cast in the leads and we can see right from the start that they have absolutely no chemistry what so ever. That right there would sink any love story. But writer/director Jane Wagner's awful script continues topping (or bottoming) itself with hopeless ideas and ridiculous situations without directly confronting the central issue of the story.

You would think in a movie about an older woman/younger man relationship we might get a reason as to why Travolta (who, get this, plays a beach stud named Strip!)is attracted to older women (particularly someone like Lily Tomlin). How about one small scene where we see him on a date with a girl his own age and he can't relate to her? With that we could understand his desires but here it's just plot device to move things along.

The whole movie runs on empty. Tomlin (who has since come out of the closet and admitted director Wagner is her longtime companion) is hopelessly miscast. She may be older but she sure didn't fit the bill for what a young man looks for in an older woman. They could have put some make-up or seductive clothing on her to try and at least create the illusion of the sexy woman but perhaps Wagner's intent was to show the normal everyday woman. I hate to tell you this Jane but people don't buy it when a normal, everyday woman is seduced by a beach stud named Strip.

"Moment By Moment" has long been forgotten and rightfully so. It's set up is preposterous, dialogue is laughable, and the acting is downright horrible. It's so bad it almost makes "Battlefield Earth" look not so bad. Skip this junk and thank me in the morning.

I have never laughed my fool head off so hard as when I read some of the reviews here. But why be mean to Lily? MALE actors cast themselves ALL THE TIME opposite leading ladies far younger and even more COMPLETELY out of their league. (Woody Allen, Jack Nicholson, Sean Connery anyone?) That being said, the main reason to watch this is that it's so not ABOUT anything that it's surreal. If you put yourself in the context of the ME decade, you can see what Jane Wagner was going for here, two people "finding themselves." The trick is making anyone else care. Well, I cared, in the same sense that I care when I see a pile-up on the freeway. Still, if you like Travolta's hairy chest this is a good one watch it in. (If you like it waxed, see "Two of a Kind.") If you want to see Lily in an atypical role, this is the one to watch too. Let's face it, as film disasters go, I'll take this over "The Majestic" any day!

I caught this stink bomb a couple of months ago and watched out of morbid fascination. It really, Really sucks. I can't believe it didn't sink Travolta's career. He should've had his head examined for playing this crappy part. Fortunately, he rebounded and made much better films. I only watched it b/c I'd read about how horrible it is. Lame dialogue and a completely unsexy atmosphere make this more painful than drinking Drano.

A magazine recently posed the question about "Moment by Moment": "Ever wonder what might make you kill yourself? How about two hours of a young John Travolta prancing around in his tighty whiteys, repeatedly banging (what could pass for) his mother?" Well, the magazine was close to correct.

Though Ms. Tomlin apparently (and with good reason) tried to have this movie buried, it turned up on AMC last week, and oh joy! oh bliss! I was able to tape it to own for all time.

No lover of bad movies can claim such status if you haven't seen this one. It is an absolute DELIGHT from beginning to end, from the cheesy 70s titles displayed while a bored Lily shops Rodeo Drive to a "romantic" score, to the astonishing lack of character development by the lead actors, to John Travolta's reason for running away from home (Mom and Dad forgot his birthday -- two years in a row!) to some of the funniest dialog ever (Lily to John: "Are you a member of the Auto Club?", which line is wittily and meaningfully repeated at the end of the film; and the "tuna" lunch scene). John's character name -- STRIP -- should clue you in on the fun in store -- every time Lily utters it, you find yourself wondering if she's saying his name or issuing a directive. And the hot tub scene is one for the ages.

You'll find yourself wondering if it was all meant as a joke, but when you realize that all these people were apparently dead serious (witness Lily's phone "breakdown" with her ex), you'll want to watch it again and again to savor the wonderful horror of it all.

This movie has EVERYTHING (even two loveable mutts, one with a bandaged foot, and a mob murder subplot that dies quicker than the victim). If you must, scour your TV listings EACH week so that you won't miss the next showing. It will be well worth the wait, I promise.