Sweet Hearts Dance

Sweet Hearts Dance has a good cast of actors. Don Johnson was in a very popular period, Susan Sarandon doesn't need an introduction, and Jeff Daniels came from the success of "Purple rose of Cairo" and "Something wild". There were all the elements to be a good movie: an interesting subject (family divorce), the actors, a good screenwriter Ernest Thompson, who came from the copy of Academy Awarded winner "On the golden pond", but the movie failed the waits. The screenplay is very repetitive: it seems to be taken from a reduction of "Terms of endearment" (even Elizabeth Perkins phisically looks like Debra Winger) and from a series of similar movies. Don Johnson is very good in the part of the rebellious husband with a bad character but we don't understand where his intolerance comes. The movie doesn't explain this and expires in the usual stereotype of the couple in crisis after the first 15 years of marriage. The direction is so absent that often it doesn't understand if the actors improvise in order to give speed to the scenes or it was a decision of the screenwriter to think many slow and predictable scenes. However the story presents even very funny moments that are the only reason in order to see this movie.

While Susan Sarandon performs well as an embittered and alienated wife, it's nothing to save this dreary, painfully long drama about marriage and failing relationships. Every adult is crotchety and awkward, even fighting at family dinners/holidays in front of guests or strangers. I imagine all relationships have their disappointments, but it's downright bizarre the way these couples rehash arguments at the most inopportune moments. Wiley is the worst character in the entire film. While on a vacation with his friend and son he complains about his wife and kids stating that he doesn't want them any more - again, this is while on vacation with his own son, after a pretty notable scene. There's a lot of tension later on in the film between father and son, which is understandable given the separation, but his behaviour towards the boy is always insanely irresponsible, aggressive and almost criminal. The entire cast of characters disappoints, there aren't any light moments to recover from the constant bickering. I would not recommend this film unless you really like Sarandon.

This is quite a surprise -- a real charmer of a movie. Who knew that Don Johnson and Susan Sarandon could co-exist in the same movie -- and play so well? And with Elizabeth Perkins and Jeff Daniels, the charm and the good looks just ooze off the screen.

I remember going to see this movie as an afterthought one night in 1988 when I was on a business trip to San Diego. I thought at first it was going to stink, as I couldn't imagine Don Johnson handling a thoughtful adult role. I was shocklingly surprised at his, and the always superior Jeff Daniels acting in this film. These two guys played off each other with such chemistry it was hard not to imagine them as best friends. As a guy who hasn't had much luck in the relationship department, I could so relate to both Don and Jeff's romance problems with, respectively; Susan Sarandon, and the babe-a-licious (I still have the hots for her) Elizabeth Perkins. In addition to the outstanding acting, the movie was written and directed with a great deal of heart. Its such a shame this fine film was ignored at the box office.

Episodes in the lives of two East Coast couples who are friends: Jeff Daniels and Elizabeth Perkins are the sweethearts (sweet hearts?) just getting their romance started, while Don Johnson and Susan Sarandon are married-and-bickering with kids. Tolerable comedy-drama from screenwriter Ernest Thompson of "On Golden Pond" fame isn't as maudlin (or, at least to my taste, as fraudulent) as that other film, though neither is it particularly witty or otherwise distinguished. Someone (either director Robert Greenwald, or Thompson, or perhaps the editor) chose to make each incident into its own chapter, like pages from a marital scrapbook or a photogenic kisses-and-hisses calendar. The picture comes off slight as a result, lacking in both romance and frivolity. Solid acting saves much of it, particularly by Don Johnson, whose bursts of temperament are convincing. Cinematographer Tak Fujimoto gives the movie a warm 'neighborly' feel that belies some of the emotions being played out. ** from ****