Best Friends

Norman Jewison (In the Heat of the Night, Rollerball) directed this supposedly romantic comedy about a middle-aged writing couple acting like teenagers at the behest of their respective parents. Barry Levinson and Valerie Curtin wrote the script, based on their own relationship, and while it's not too difficult to spot the authenticity and potential, the script limits itself and gets too hung up on its own conundrums. After a fun start, in which the chemistry between stars Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn is palpable and very much enjoyable, the film starts to drag when the couple go on a road trip to their in-laws. It's all obviously meant to feel claustrophobic, but the film isn't just suffocating its protagonists; it's also suffocating itself. There's a lack of perspective here, which the filmmakers try to make up for with babbling, Allenesque dialogue, making the film's various stages seem perpetual and unforgiving. Reynolds and Hawn not only wear each other out, they also wear this entire film out. And Jewison is never able to find the tools to lift Best Friends out from its own misery. It could have been a good movie.

A reunion of sorts for director Norman Jewison & writers Barry Levinson & Valerie Curtin (who worked together on 1979's And Justice for All) on this comedy from 1982. Burt Reynolds & Goldie Hawn play screenwriters who are partners at work & partners at home who feel the stirrings of marriage but when they decide to tie the knot & visit each other's in-laws, the sinking feeling of regret soon settles in even as a film they have in production needs their services. Screaming 'inspired by real life', this tale clearly mirrored Levinson/Curtin's real relationship which gives us some interesting comic vignettes but not much else since as a couple on screen, Reynolds & Hawn look uncomfortable even when they're embraced in affection. Jewison hadn't directed such froth as this since his early days in the 60's when he made a couple of Doris Day pics so seeing him return to his roots, as it were, feels like many steps back rather than an evolution for this auteur.

The undeniable charm of its stars, at the peak of their popularity, is the only thing that makes BEST FRIENDS slightly watchable. This paper-thin story centers on a pair of Hollywood screen writers named Richard Babson (Burt Reynolds) and Paula McCullen (Goldie Haw), who after years of living together, decide to marry, though they both have always felt marriage would destroy their relationship. There's nothing new or interesting here and the thrust of the film is when the pair make a trip to visit each other's parents. Jessica Tandy and Barnard Hughes are wonderful as Goldie's parents, Audra Lindley and Keenan Wynn also have their moments as Burt's parents, but the whole thing just plays like a hastily written sitcom. The film is driven purely on star power and has this whole "been there done that" air about it. I think Burt and Goldie must have needed the money.

Richard and Paula (Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn) have been living together for years...and they are quite content in this arrangement...particularly Paula. But when Richard decides that they should get married, all sorts of problems result during their honeymoon. Much of it is because they don't really go on a honeymoon but go to visit each other's parents...and it does not go well. In fact, it goes so poorly that they then decide they might be better off divorced!

The first part of this film is funny...in a cringe-inducing sort of way...which I enjoyed. Seeing their awful families was cute and fun. But when the pair decided to break up, the film became very dark and unpleasant. Seeing two people who supposedly love each other then hurting each other make this a difficult film to watch...at least for me. Had they kept the momentum and spirit of the first part, I would have loved the film...but the grim (and unrealistic) final portion just seemed to make the story grind to a halt. Still, overall, it's worth seeing, just terribly uneven.

Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn as sweetheart screenwriters who live together unmarried; soon however, Burt starts feeling his mortality and wants something substantial, Goldie wants to be a team-player...and so they propose to each other in the shower. These rather uninteresting lovers spend the rest of the picture sniping at one another, and director Norman Jewison keeps the pacing at a sitcom-cute crawl. Reynolds and Hawn create a fatigued sort of rapport that certainly suggests they've known each other a while and have built a relationship which can withstand a little irritability, but what's funny about that? So many of the situations here bomb completely, particularly a really stinky one regarding Hawn's father who molests all his housekeepers. Keenan Wynn and Audra Lindley are wonderful as Burt's parents--but after the first hour, "Best Friends" becomes melodramatic and muddled. I didn't believe for one second these two characters would find their happy ending...they're much too self-involved. ** from ****