Moment by Moment

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.

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.

Wealthy Beverly Hills socialite Trish Rawlings (Lily Tomlin) is currently residing in a beach side residence as she engages in a separation from her husband Stu (Bert Kramer) following his extramarital affair. While in town shopping she encounters drifter Strip (John Travolta) who remembers her from a valet parking job where she took responsibility for a dent in the car her husband blamed on him. Strip makes flirtatious advances towards Trish which are initially unwelcome, but as she encounters him on the beach she begins to develop feelings for him.

Moment by Moment was the third film starring John Travolta made by producer Robert Stigwood following the successes of both Saturday Night Fever and Grease. The film was set to co-star Lily Tomlin who'd scored two well regarded features with Nashville earning her an Academy Award Nomination and The Late Show also garnering strong critical praise. The project moved forward with Tomlin's partner and future wife, Jane Wagner, taking writing and direction duties for the film. While both Tomlin and Travolta had a pleasant experience working together, both were blindsided by the end product of the movie. Word had gotten out that the chemistry between leads Tomlin and Travolta rivaled that of "Menachem Begin and Yassar Arafat" and Universal hired Saturday Night Fever DP Ralf D. Bode to co-direct with Wagner but credited him as "technical advisor". Stigwood even tried to have Wagner fired from the movie at one point but backed down after resistance from both Tomlin and Travolta. When the movie was released it was eviscerated by critics and audiences with many citing the lack of chemistry between the leads. Box office was also quite underwhelming with the film making $10 million against its $8 million budget falling well short of the standards of Saturday Night Fever or Grease. Moment by Moment is a blot on the careers of both Tomlin and Travolta, but one they were easily able to move past with Travolta scoring a hit with Urban Cowboy and Tomlin getting success with 9 to 5. Moment by Moment however is still as uncomfortable and awkward as it was when first released.

While the movie is titled "Moment by Moment", a more proper title would be "Just Go Away Already", because most of the first part of this movie is Travolta's character strip making advances towards Tomlin's Trish while she keeps rejecting him but he keeps showing back up because he either has "friends nearby" or conveniently forgets little articles he has to return for. The movie is mostly just scenes of Tomlin and Travolta together with few extras and minimal supporting characters so the movie basically lives or dies solely on the chemistry of our leads. The movie's basically a parade of scenes with our characters taking turns getting annoyed at one another with the pendulum shifting back and forth between who's annoyed by whom. There's minor subplots or background elements in the movie such as Strip's never seen best friend Gregg who's only ever mentioned by Strip and we never actually see any of the things surrounding that character, or things going on with Trish's social circle such as a party scene with a theme of pictures of feet called, no joke, "footography". I don't know if this is satire of something specific, but whatever purpose it had back in the day wasn't all that resonant and it's only gotten more confusing with the passage of time. I'll say the music and cinematography is well done, but the fact this movie costs $2 million more than Grease is absurd because this feels like this should be $4 million at most especially with how most of the time it's just Tomlin and Travolta pratting about.

Moment by Moment is a romance with two leads who exude anti-chemistry. Both are fantastic actors and on paper it seems like a winning combo, but an awkward delivery devoid of sexual energy just kills the movie from being engaging on that level. There's probably been worse love stories that were either more bland, toxic, or preposterous, but more often than not they at least give you additional elements beyond the core romance to make up for those shortcomings. Moment by Moment doesn't have any additional elements to fall back on and is just being stuck with two people who are as annoyed with each other as we are by them.

Man, there's a reason this one isn't on video (public embarrassment not the least of them). But it's so absolutely awful you have to catch it if it shows up on broadcast or cable TV. Travolta playing a young stud named STRIP (!) and Lily Tomlin as his older lover. Many soulful, soft-focus gazes and incredibly lame dialog. Too much fun!

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.