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Billy Crystal plays Mickey, a basketball referee who has to accompanyhis estranged father's body to France, where the old man requested to be buried with the other members of his D-Day platoon. Unfortunately for Mickey, the airline loses his body. Fortunately for Mickey, this leads him to meet Ellen (Debra Winger), an airline executive who takes personal charge of the case and even joins him at the funeral. A whirlwind Paris romance leads to marriage, but that's when the complications begin... The story of Mickey and Ellen's marriage is recounted by their friends (played by Joe Mantegna, Cynthia Stevenson, Julie Kavner, Richard Masur, John Spencer, and Cathy Moriarty) as they wait for Mickey and Ellen to arrive at a dinner party. And of course these friends have their own stories, which are played out in witty shorthand as they bicker about who's going to tell the next part of the Mickey/Ellen saga. Forget Paris is uneven (unsurprisingly, Winger is stronger in the dramatic sections and Crystal in the comic parts, a schism that takes its toll on their chemistry), but its best parts hold up, even if the whole is shaky. Plus, the movie's theme (that romantic memories aren't what makes a marriage work, you have to live in the present) is explored with conviction and tenderness. --Bret Fetzer ... Read more

Reviews (18)

Charming
Forget Paris is indeed a charming romantic comedy. Billy Crystal is his usual wise cracking self and Debra Winger fits in decently as his love interest. I like the way the story seems to weave as each of the supporting cast members relate an amusing anecdote about our star couple. Several hillarious moments include when Crystal and Winger are in therapy and the reactions of the different psychologists. Love Crystal's retort to a couple psychologist team,"When do you get involved, when there is gunplay!"

Overall, the story is pretty similar to When Harry Met Sally. In some ways its a little irrealsitic. Nonetheless, there are some comedic moments that will keep you amused.

Funny Romantic Comedy
The romantic comedy is a very popular genre at the movies right now. I suppose that it always has been. In "Forget Paris" the emphasis is on the comedy, rather than the romance, and it provides a nice counterpart to some of the others.

The story is structured in a fashion that will be familiar to Woody Allen fans. Three couples are sitting around at dinner telling stories about their absent friends Mickey (Billy Crystal) and Ellen (Debra Winger).

Mickey and Ellen first meet in Paris through a rather amazing set of circumstances. (I won't give it away.) They fall in love, but Mickey has to go back to work-he's an NBA referee-so he leaves. He pines for Ellen, though, and it starts to affect his work. (There's a great scene with him and Kareem Abdul Jabbar.) Finally, Mickey returns to Paris and they resume where they left off.

Eventually, they decide to get married and Ellen quits her job and moves to California with Mickey. That's when the problems begin. Mickey is constantly on the road, so Ellen gets lonely, plus she hates her new job. Basically, she's miserable.

Trying to make things work out between them, Mickey quits his job and stays home with Ellen. In the meantime, she has gotten a great job that she loves so she's never home. Now Mickey is miserable.

If you suspect that somehow everything works out in the end, you've probably seen this kind of movie before. No matter. A romantic comedy succeeds or fails, not based on its originality or unpredictability, but on its charm, humor and the charisma of its characters. On that basis, "Forget Paris" succeeds.

Billy Crystal produced, directed and co-wrote the film, in addition to starring in it, so it's his picture all the way. With that kind of pedigree, you know it's going to be funny, and it is. Sometimes hilariously so.

It also means that there will be moments when the story or the characters will be sacrificed in order to serve the humor-and there are. There are too many scenes where Crystal cracks jokes and all Winger is given to do is laugh at them. That's too bad. An actress of her talent and intelligence should have a character that is more worthy of her.

There will be natural comparisons between this film and "When Harry Met Sally...," which also starred Billy Crystal. Although this picture is not as good as that one, it is still enjoyable.

Better Than Average
This is not a great movie, but I have to admit it is better than most romantic comedies out there. There are at least two or three "laugh-out-loud" moments (my favorite is the pigeon scene), but for the most part it is just okay. I thought my lack of enthusiasm could be attributed to the fact that this is more of a "chick flick," but alas, my wife felt the same way.

Using the friends of the main characters to tell the story in flashback is an interesting device, but overall this film is only a little bit better than average.

romantic comedy wins despite itself
Debra Winger and Billy Crystal are surprisingly well matched in this romantic comedy. The two meet in Paris where Mickey Gordon (Crystal) has come to bury is father, a WWII vet for whom Mickey had little love. When papa's coffin gets lost, it falls to Ellen Andrews (Winger), an airline exec to help him out. Paris is magical, and they fall in love. Unfortunately, while there love endures, that Parisian spark doesn't survive the wedding. Crystal's bachelor life proves harder to leave behind than he thought (Mickey has what amounts to Bill Crystal's dream job - as an utterly fearless NBA ref - but may have to sacrifice it; He may also have to bear living with Winger's dementia-plagued father played by William Hickey). She may have to bear the obvious unhappiness of causing Mickey to lose his dream job, not to mention his loutish friends, including Joe Mantegna as a sportswriter, and primetime TV vet John Spencer ("LA Law", "West Wing") as a serial divorcee who derisively refers to his latest spouse as "the new Mrs. Jack."

If "Paris" is uneven it's because it's trying to be a romantic comedy that is often not very romantic or that funny. Still, the flick knows when to light things up (much of the story is told over dinner by Mickey's friends - especially Mantegna who display's a reporter's knack for knowing where his audience's attentions will flag, and a gift for reclaiming them) and in the end, romance wins.

A good story that's funny and original!
Genuinely funny and original! From the opening, you'll be both touched and thoroughly entertained by this truly romantic comedy!

Billy Crystal is wonderful as a slightly neurotic basketball referee and Debra Winger is convincing as an ascending career woman who finds herself torn between love, Paris, and her job.

Highly recommended. ... Read more

Reviews (48)

A mix of spoof, serious action for film out of its time
I remember my Dad reading The Destroyer novels as a kid. I often wondered what the appeal was in this series about a former cop/Bond wannabe named after a bedpan. While it isn't completely faithful to the source material, Guy Hamilton's Remo Williams captures some of the absurdity that made these novels so memorable as pulp fiction. Hamilton's tone as director (and the script)are an extension of the tongue in cheek Bond thrillers starring Roger Moore. Although this might seem a stretch, if you enjoyed films like Buckaroo Banzai, Big Trouble in Little China and the stronger Moore based Bond films (what an interesting cross section!), you'll enjoy Remo Williams.

The plot is pretty straight forward: Fred Ward plays a police officer who "reborn" to play the role of action hero. The performances capture much of the original characters from the novels. I suppose the best way to view this film is as a 70's and 80's variation on the Doc Savage pulp novels. The exception is that Doc here is an oafish fool part of the time.

MGM has done an exceptional job lately with its two for one Midnite Matinee DVDs and reissues. Sadly, Remo Williams is botched from the first frame; MGM chose to release this full frame vs. widescreen. Now it's entirely possible that Hamilton shot this in standard aspect ratio and matted it afterwards for theater exhibition (which is what Kubrick did with many of his films after Barry Lyndon--he was unhappy with the cropping of his films for television so shot them in standard aspect ratio, i.e., framed for t.v., then matted them for the theater. That way he had control over both versions of the film). Regardless, it should have been noted on the box (a flaw with the Kubrick films The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut as well).

There aren't any extras and, given the market for this film, that's not a surprise. Still, the least MGM could have done was include a running commentary from stars Fred Ward and Joel Grey. Perhaps neither one was available or interested. Still, with Hamitlon deceased, I would have been interested in hearing their take on the film. The reason this is lacking in extras is the same reason that films like Horror of Dracula is lacking extras--it's not cost effective for MGM to do it. A pity as Anchor & Bay could have done a bang up job (like they did with The Three Musketeers DVD although that one was also missing a commentary track).

Fans of Remo Williams will just have to be happy that the film is finally available on DVD. I've only seen the film on TNT (also in full screen format)a couple times over the past years. While it's not the perfect package, I am thankful that MGM chose to release this and not just let it languish in their film vault. Somewhere there has to be outtakes, interviews, press interviews, etc. We'll have to wait another day for those I suppose.

I loved it
I saw this in the theater when it came out and anxiously awaited the sequels. This is one movie where the sequel would have probably been a much better movie if for no other reason than actors and director would get into The Destroyer legend.

I loved the books at least up until Richard Sapir passed away. The books were fun, funny and contained much social satire. They were gems of wit and wisdom.

Basically it is about a cop recruited to be a supersecret agent for the government for an agency called CURE. The theory being that the President needed a tool to combat evil that could be fought only by violating the Constitution. Of course Presidents now boast about violating the constitution but these stories are from a more innocent age.

In the movie Fred Ward is perfectly cast as Remo Williams named in a very amusing way - "We put a lot of thought into it."
Joel Gray does a marvelous job of Chiun the Master of Sinanju the latest in a line of assasins dating back a millenia or two. Sinanju being the "sun source of all martial arts".

Wilford Brimly is probably the biggest departure from the books cast as Harold Smith. In the series Smith was a much more interesting character and the interplay between him and Remo is always entertaining.

Overall the plot was weak. Iw ould have rather had them adapt one of the many stories from the book series. I just never felt that Grove was that evil a guy worthy of accelerating Remo's mission. Patrick Kilpatrick was a great villan - muscle man "Stone". I particularly enjoyed the scene where Remo uses Stone's special feature to escape from a gas chamber.

The film was well structured I thought with equal amounts of Remo's training and mission, Joel Gray doing a wonderful Chiun, soap operas and all.

I thought it was a good first effort. Had they kept it up I am sure they would have gotten the hang of it and the movies gotten better and better.

I downrated the DVD mainly because of the format. so-called "fullscreen" is really only a half a screen. I did not buy the DVD just for that reason. I have an old copy on Betamax that I still watch twice a year or so.

There are no significant bonus features on the disk as was pointed out by a previous reviewer. This is just about inexcusable these days.

If my Beta tape ever weasr out I may be forced to buy a disk, but until then maybe MGM will get their heads out of you know where and re-release this movie properly.

Remo is a fun film to escape to
This film does not take itself seriously and you shouldn't either. Remo Williams is a lot of fun and it aspires to be nothing more than that which is great. Because of rising production costs, among other things, have forced studios to stay clear of movies that are made just for fun and focus on huge CGI effects blockbusters or long boring oscar winning dramas. All the easy going films that were so common in the 80's have gone away and it's a shame. Part of what makes Remo so great is that there is a complete lack of huge explotions, car wrecks, wire stunt action scenes, or CGI monsters. Remo spends more of its time dealing with the work of becoming a hero which, in this writer's opinion, is much more interesting.

I have never read the Destroyer series but you really don't have to to enjoy Remo. If you're looking for a giant action laced movie you may want to keep looking but if you are in the mood to see a fun, more grounded, how to become a hero, sort of film, Remo is perfect.

His name was Remo and...
First-this movie is far from getting it right.But just the fact that it was even attempted is enough for any Destroyer fan.I've always been a great fan of the paperback series-any series with a charachter like Chiun (pronounced CHYEEWN not CHYUN)can't go wrong.They at many times beat the world news on events that were going to happen.I really liked the movie in spite of itself.Grey did as fine a job as probably humanly possible for a cauc-ie actor portraying a nearly un-portrayable oriental charachter.The villains were alot like you encounter in the books ie: men in power who don't know what real power is and therefore must find out the hard way.Whoever cast Brumley (no offence to Wilford) is an idiot.Oh,and Kate was great-she stepped right outta the series-fine lady,beautiful woman & a wonderful actress.Alas, no sex or even full nudal frontity or even jellified villains eating their own firing guns with no hands,but hey,it's a Dick Clark production,and that's the reason why...and Guy,you Hamilton!!why could'nt you bring as much style and excitement to this as you did for Goldfingah.Which reminds me the theme song and soundtrack is sub-par to say the least.Who could write and sing a cool song out of a title like Remo Williams:The Adventure Begins,anyway.It should have been called His name was Remo and the script should have followed #1Created,The Destroyer up until the execution scene.Gotta admit the rest of this movie is really cool especially the carney played by William Hickey.

Fun Film - Would Benefit from a Sequel
A late-night cable favorite since its creation, REMO WILLIAMS has always been close to my heart and revisiting this DVD recently reignited my wishes for a sequel.

REMO WILLIAMS' strong point has always been its weakness as well. "The Adventure Begins" the title tells us up front, and presents a tale devoted almost entirely to character origin and development. Whereas lesser films would have thrown in a training montage across three minutes of film, Remo's lasts ninety. And it's not even over. Never "ready" to be unleashed as the assassin he's meant to be, Remo Williams spends the entirety of the film under Chiun's tutelage, forced into action only by circumstance. Only in the final minutes does he seem ready to begin the life he has been designed for.

How does this affect the film? Well, it will feel downright slow for the Fast and Furious generation weaned on quick-cut, shallow films like XXX which speed along from one explosion to the next. For those of us who used to read way back when and enjoyed seeing these pulpy characters fleshed out onscreen - as well as those of us who dug Kung Fu Theatre on Sunday afternoons (check out KILL BILL Vol 2's "Cruel Tutelage of Pai Mai" sequence for the heavy influence of Chiun), it means this is a simultaneous delight and letdown (the latter only because, realistically, we know there will never be a sequel to continue this story).

My only other minor criticism of REMO WILLIAMS is its relatively bloodless onscreen presentation. Not that I'm looking for gore, but for an assassination film, this one is very tame. On the upside, one could feel very comfortable sharing this film with pre-teen action enthusiasts.

The REMO WILLIAMS DVD is a bare bones, full-screen affair, but at its bargain price, who can really complain? You know what you're getting and it looks better than a TV re-run. A deluxe edition DVD would be nice but this viewer isn't holding his breath. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR...
This is a very enjoyable comedy, starring the irrepressible Whoopi Goldberg in the role of Edwina "Eddie" Franklin, the widow of a New York City police officer. Following in her late husband's footsteps, she coaches basketball for inner city kids. She is also the number one fan for the New York Knicks, a team that, despite the talent on it, can't seem to win a game. Eddie loves the team, no matter what, and can be seen high up in the rafters of every Knicks game, rabidly and raucously cheering them on.

When "Eddie" wins the honorary coach for the day contest at one of the Knicks' games, she manages to get thrown off the court by the head coach (Dennis Farina), when she protests a ref's call. This causes the fans to go wild, chanting her name as she leaves the court. When the head coach for the Knicks gets fired by the team's owner, Wild Bill Burgess (Frank Langella in a ten gallon hat), he hires "Eddie" as an interim head coach, as it seems that fans of the Knicks love "Eddie" and respond to her very positively. After all, she was one of them. Burgess, however, has no expectations of "Eddie's" ability to coach the team. "Eddie", however, aims to do everything she can to bring the Knicks out of their slump. For her, this is a dream come true.

This is a feel good sort of movie. Whoopi is very funny , as she goes about setting right what has gone wrong with the team. Frank Langella is terrific as the deal making team owner whose folksy manner belies the fact that he has his eye on the bottom line. Dennis Farina is credible as the head coach with a mouth as big as his monumental ego. While the film is fairly predictable, it is quite enjoyable. The viewer is also treated to a few fun cameos by Donald Trump, sports announcer Marv Alpert, and former NBA star, Walt Frazier. If you are not a big fan of basketball, however, deduct one star from my rating.

Good, But Could Have Been Better
The Story: Whoopi Goldberg plays a fan of the NY Knicks who wins a chance to coach for a day. It works so well that she gets hired.

The story is interesting and the movie starts out with lots of heart and humor. Then, two things happen to spoil it.

First, a scene is inserted (and it really feels like it was inserted, almost as an afterthought) wherein Whoopi Goldberg has a heated argument with the team owner, with profanity inserted in what seems a forced and contrived way. I've seen this in other movies (e.g., "Magic" starring Anthony Hopkins), and it looks like the profanity is inserted just to change the rating to grab the attention of teens, who go to the movies a lot.

Second, the film loses it's way and gets boring throughout much of the second half.

Ms. Goldberg, I hope you redo this movie and carry the heart and humor of the first half through the entire movie. It could be a 4-star or even a 5-star family movie.

Stop Before It Hurts!
[Add a star if you love Whoopi Goldberg.]

OK, class. Once again. It's important to realize what our perceptions are going in to a movie like this before one starts judging it. My perception going in was that we have yet another sports fantasy from the Disney sports fantasy factory. These are the same people who didn't know to stop with The Bad News Bears. So, they gave us The Mighty Ducks, Little GIANTS, and Angels In The Outfield.

This time out of the box it's "the Bad News Bears play NBA Basketball". Subbing for the Bears are the New York Knicks. Believe me, it's definitely bad news to see Mark Jackson back in a Knick uniform. Anyway, these Knicks are hopelessly bad. They're in last place and they have no signs of getting better. However, every sports team, no matter how bad, has its loyal fans.

Meet Eddie Franklin (Whoopi Goldberg). Eddie is fanatical about the Knicks. She loves them. She loves them so much that she, a limo dispatcher, does play-by-play and commentary over the limo service's airwaves. Where Eddie's friend goes to Knick games to meet men, Eddie goes to see the game.

Well, the Knicks are so bad that they've been sold to a new owner, one Wild Bill Burgess (Frank Langella). Will Bill is one of those stereotypical Texan billionaires who does everything large. Langella plays him well, but I could have seen Dennis Weaver in this role. Anyway, Burgess takes a ride in from the airport in Eddie's limo, who is inexplicably driving that day. Eddie's been listening to the FAN (WFAN Sports Radio 66, NYC) and ESPN Sports Radio. Eddie hates the Knicks' coach, played by Dennis Farina; so much so that she calls up Burgess, who doing a radio call-in, without realizing that he's in the back seat behind the glass. Burgess spies Eddie at the game later and decides to fix the halftime "Honorary Coach" contest so that he can throw Eddie and Bailey (Farina) together.

Eddie sinks the requisite free-throw and we're off. Franklin and Bailey don't like each other. (Bailey doesn't like anybody.) When Eddie steps on the court to protest a call, the referee assesses the Knicks a technical foul and Bailey has Eddie thrown out of the Garden to howls of protest from the fans. Seeing this, owner Burgess conspires to get rid of Bailey and hire a new coach. Meanwhile, he can hire Eddie as a one-shot interim coach until the dirty deed is done.

Of course, the plot is convoluted and full of holes, but the movie could still be entertaining if there were any energy on the screen. For the most part, there is none. The only chemistry I enjoyed was that between Franklin and veteran player Nate Wilson (John Salley).

As a native New Yorker, I especially thought it irritating that the movie's producers split up the announcing team of Marv Albert and Walt Frazier. Although both men play themselves, Frazier plays a sports-talk host rather than his usual (and colorful) role as Knick radio analyst. Anyone who has heard Albert and Frazier work together knows what I mean.

As in all these Disney sports fantasies, the Knicks start playing better under Franklin's coaching, but there's further trouble ahead. Actually, there's so much plot in this movie, they could have loaned some to Twister.

In conclusion, I'd wait for this movie to come to cable unless you just like Whoopi Goldberg films.

[Originally written 3 June 1996]

Good Family Fun
This film shows Whoopi Goldberg at her big mouth wise cracking best. The film is about a rich chairman who buys the New York Nicks and try's to turn a losing team into a freak show to make money. So he hires a big mouth fan as the head coach who he beleives can't coach. The first half of the film is funniest as Whoopi Goldberg tells the Nicks coaches what she really thinks of them. Some of the misfit players are quite good to. There is a Russian who can't speak any English, a great player except he won't pass the ball and a player who is more interested in his failing marriage. All in all, kids will love this one and adults should enjoy some of the humour.

Eddie was good.
Whoopi is one of my favorite actresses, so that might be why my review of this film is biased. Although rabid movie critics may disagree with me, I found the film to be rather enjoyable. It was fun watching Whoopi arise to the level of coach and turn around the fledgling Knicks. It's a light-hearted comedy with laughs and fun. Recommended. ... Read more