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Inspired by the 1960s TV series that starred James Garner in the title role, this lightweight Western from 1994 proved to be a surprising box-office hit. Well, maybe not such a big surprise, since it's from the star and director of the Lethal Weapon movies, and operates with a similar combination of mainstream plotting and easygoing humor. Mel Gibson stars as card-playing gunslinger Brett Maverick, who meets up with wily gambler Annabelle Bransford (Jodie Foster) and a marshal named Zane Cooper (James Garner, trading his old role to Gibson) on his way to the World Series of poker in St. Louis. Maverick's trying to raise the $5,000 needed to join the high-stakes contest, but that's easier said than done due to a lot of unscrupulous competition and a twisting plot of tricks and deceptions. It's all played for laughs and action, so the movie never wears out its welcome, despite a running time that could've used a good trimming. It's also fun to see the rapport between Gibson and Garner, as if the present and former Mavericks were a kind of surrogate son and father, bonded by their mutual skill in charming and conning their way through tight spots. Director Richard Donner also pays tribute to old Westerns by casting veterans of the genre in cameo roles (including Bert Remsen, Dub Taylor, and Denver Pyle), and Gibson's Lethal Weapon costar Danny Glover pops in for a surprise appearance. None of this really adds up to much since the movie makes no pretense about taking itself seriously, but that's precisely why audiences found it so entertaining. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (39)

Almost A Delight
Like so many other movies based on popular TV shows, this one seems to fall a little short, somehow. The cast is fine, although Mel Gibson is a little more intense as Bret Maverick than James Garner was. Garner had a laid-back quality that suited the role well. Putting Garner in this movie was a nice touch, by the way, and he and Jodie Foster are delightful. Gibson is fine, too, just .. different. Of course, the slightly different feel doesn't matter much unless you remember the show, which isn't the case for many contemporary viewers. More to the point, perhaps, the TV Maverick was a western spoof. It was done tongue-in-cheek and relied on humor. The movie attempts the same feel, but the gags are rather ordinary and the plot, while it has some interesting twists in it, is slow to develop. Taken as a whole, "Maverick" comes across as a fun movie, but there isn't much in it to lift above the ordinary. It's too bad they haven't tried making another, though. After all, the first "Star Trek" movie wasn't great, either. I rate "Maverick" 3+ stars. There are funnier western comedies out there and, unless you're a fan, you might want to see this before buying it.

How The West Was Fun!!!
'Maverick' is by far the best western movie ever! Fast paced, action packed, suspenseful, and funny (very funny), Maverick keeps you on your toes and leaves you screaming for more!

Mel Gibson kicks butt (literally) as Bret Maverick, a handsome, slick and roguish card player trying to win enough money to enter the biggest card game of the year. While trying to win some dough, he meets the scheming thief, Annabelle Bransworth (played by Jodie Foster). I love Jodie Foster in this movie, I never knew she was such a comedian!

'Maverick' is a witty, charming, and hilarous western comedy. A must-see.

ALL ROUND ENTERTAINMENT
Mel Gibson's Maverick is somewhat goofy but charming, sly, and fairly humorous.

A number of excellent cameos provide some comic relief, especially Danny Glover near the beginning of the movie. The biggest surprise for me was Jodie Foster, who, in an impressively rare comedic role, thankfully discards her repetoire of facial tics for a much more natural performance here.

The plot is kept pretty simple until near the end -- and the end has a great twist, which I won't divulge. Suffice it to say that your time will be well spent.

Recommended rental for sure, but also consider buying this excellent DVD because this comedy does well with repeat viewing.

Another widescreen review
PICTURE QUALITY = 4-SOUND QUALITY = 5+The overall picture quality is pleasant and satisfying. Color is nice but pxilazation is very present in the begining of movie. Improves as movie goes on. This being a very senic movie I was not completly happy but still satisfied. Could've been a bit sharper and remastered from high definition but wasnt.The sound quality in Dolby was awesome. Not in Dolby Digital but on a system with Pro Logic II it souded great if not better than most non-digital dolby surround. All surround sounds are present and really stood out. The soundtrack is placed perfectly and surrounds the room. Very happpy with this DVD sound quality.THE MOVIE - *note spolier. The movie was excellent in all entertainment areas if your looking for a FUN Western movie. Comedy, action, stunts, scenery, and many great actors. Everything you would want in a "fun" western film in the old fashioned tradition. Light on violence and good enough for the whole family.*Spoiler - The best (and my favorite) thing about this movie is the fact that James Garner still plays as Maverick even though the audience doesn't know it. Watching it over and knowing that Mel Gibson is playing his role as "the son of Maverick" and James Garner is still the orginal character he played in the past makes this a great movie to watch over and over.My overall review is that it is worth buying and I'd give it 5 stars if the picture was just a touch better. Don't be fooled though, I have a large projection widescreen tv with a progressive component DVD player so I see almost any grain there is if any is present. Overall this DVD was satisfying enough to make me happy I bought it. On any other tv it will display a perfect picture. Sound quality is great on a home theatre sound system.This is a movie that should be made on a Superbit DVD.

Good film. Good Fun.
You don't need to know a thing about the old TV show to enjoy this comedic gem. There are several plot twists that will keep you interested from start to finish. Couple that with a great script and an excellent cast and you've got the winning formula from which this movie was built upon.

P.S: Watch closely for a hilarious Danny Glover cameo! ... Read more

Description

Whoopi Goldberg (SISTER ACT I & II, EDDIE) handles business her own way in this outrageous comedy hit! Whoopi plays a fast-track executive who starts her own company after a back-stabbing co-worker (Tim Daly, TV's WINGS) nabs her promotion. But when she's locked out of the stuffy corporate world, she invents a dazzling male business partner to sell her ideas! Her wacky plan soon spins wildly out of control, however, when her bogus "associate" becomes Wall Street's hottest financial whiz -- and Whoopi herself must impersonate him! With Dianne Wiest (THE BIRDCAGE) in a hilarious supporting cast, THE ASSOCIATE is a comedy treat you're sure to love! ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Great Movie
Whoopi Goldberg stars in THE ASSOCIATE, a humorous movie about the stock market and a woman finding her way. She plays Laurel Ayers, a stock broker who is promised a promotion. When her co worker takes her promotion right from under her, she is determined to make it on her own. She quits and starts her own company. To her dismay she finds out that it's not easy making it in the world as a woman, doors are constantly slammed in her face because of her gender, so she sets out to take the world over by storm, by creating a fictional person, Robert Cutty. Yes she creates a man and even dresses up as one. Cutty takes the world by storm, but Laurel has to keep up with her charade. Eventually she realizes that Cutty has been nothing but trouble for her, no one cares about what SHE has been doing, and a man is still getting all the credit for her ideas. So she sets out to kill a fictional man that doesn't exist! She realizes she is no better than she was, because Cutty is getting credit for all her work and ideas. ...Overall a really humorous and well acted film, worth seeing many times.

Very Entertaining!
I truly love this movie! I have been trying to get it on DVD eversince I first watched it in March 1997 on my way to the UK. Whoopi Goldberg's acting is convincing but I liked Dianne Wiest's supporting role. A very entertainingly funny plot will keep you laughing most of the time through the whole movie.

He Look-a-Like-A-Man!
I must have seen this movie about twenty times or more! Each time I viewed it, I discovered something new in the movie!I loved
when Whoopi finally got a break-through and was given an account to prove her worth as a business woman! Women are still looked down in 2002 in many fields!The White Male is still given every thing over the Black woman and the white woman! Opray was the frist African American woman given close to a billion in revenue, we're cousins by the way Opray and I! No, really!!

viewing the movie helped me to make many successful deals without feeling like a helpless female!

Anyway Whoopi plays a guy as well as she does a girl! Five stars for you Whoopi!

Not a Great Comedy but Sometimes genuine humor film.
Wall street analyst (Oscar-Winner:Whoopi Goldberg) cannot survived in the World Business Men. So, she sets up with a Phony Fictitious business male partner and she decide to dress herself as a Man!

This Comedy is a Remake from a French 1982 film. Goldberg is Quite Good in the lead. Great suppoting cast:Including-Two Time Oscar Winner:Dianne Wiest, Eli Wallach, Timothy Daly, Bebe Neuworth, Austin Pendleton and Lainie kazan. Directed by Donald Pertie (Grumpier old men) has made a good comedy but he has made funnier films that this one. Grade:B.

Badly acted; not very entertaining
Any one who has the faintest inkling of how Wall St works will find this movie a joke. I can't believe the other reviews giving four or five stars. I was very disappointed with the whole thing. Whoopi seems very uninvolved in her acting. The movie just drags and drags. Many of the so called comic scenes are very contrived. ... Read more

Description

A boy, struggling to pass the entrance exam to his late father's alma mater and virtually ignored by his mother and two sisters, asks Justin Mcleod, a solitary ex-teacher with a tragic past, to tuter him. as thetwo apply themselves to the task at hand, they build a friendship with the power to heal the wounds of their past. ... Read more

Reviews (25)

First time's a charm.
Mel Gibson's first time directing is notably successful. The Man Without A Face is warm movie with themes touching prejudice, the relationship between teacher and student, and faces of deception. Chuck Norstadt is a young boy whose mother's capricious relationships have sent her skimming through multiple marriages and developing a considerable deal of tension at home. The dysfunctional family leaves Chuck desperately looking for companionship. He finds an unlikely friend, the town's "freak," Justin McLeod (Gibson), who had half his face horribly scarred in a car accident. McLeod lives in a big house on the coast as a lonely hermit whose past is shrouded in ugly rumors and fear.

McLeod becomes Chuck's tutor and his friend, although Chuck will do some teaching of his own. They both realize they have a lot to learn about each other, and their friendship develops into something stirring and honest. Things get complicated when vile rumors and intolerance threaten to separate them, though.

The script is smart, and Gibson's direction guides this film with a discerning knack for emotional lucidity and realism. Nick Stahl (as Chuck) is one of the few young actors who can do emotional expression that doesn't seem forced and stupid. This is critical, because bad casting for Chuck would seriously have ruined this movie. Gibson, of course, is great here, but what would you expect? He's a tremendously versatile actor. I do think the movie probably should have been about 10 minutes longer to flesh out the ending a bit. That's not a huge complaint...the last scene in the movie makes up for any disappointment because it is very moving and evocative in its simplicity. Ahh...truly an excellent movie.

A Powerhouse of a movie
This movie is an incredible moving expierience. Nick Stahl plays Chuck Nordstatt in this coming of age drama. The charming kid is beleved to be "too unstable and removed" to complete his dream: to be a pilot in the army. Once more, he doesn't have any recollection of his father, and his mother refuses to divulge such secrets. His older sister, and many of his friends think he is seriously disturbed. So he begins to question his self worth, and begins to think he is crazy. Then he meets with resident town freak,( Mel Gibson in his most powerful performance ever) an ex-teacher who decides to tutor him to help him acquire his dream. The movie teaches a valuable lesson, but doesn't come off as preachy(which is to it's benifit) Both charachters find what they are searching for in each other. The resoloution is visually stunning and touching. It proves that someone you've known for only a short time can impact you for the duration of your life.

Where is Mom when you need her?
This film is about people who judge another without knowing a thing about him - just make up a story! It also portrays how the members of some families in American today occasionally cross paths knowing little about each other. Throw in an incompetent, egotistical, selfish mother who is less interested in her children than in her next lover, and it is no wonder the boy turns to a stranger who is badly scarred for acceptance, encouragement, guidance, help and love. Too bad, McLeod could not have been accepted for who he seemed to be - a man who had been through a horrible ordeal trying to live in peace with others. Instead, all because he tried to befriend and aid a child (who, by the way, was a very dishonest child), he was silently judged guilty of who knows what crimes, all without trial, by a few disgusting bigots in this lovely vacation town. An interesting study of a dysfunctional fatherless family being raised by a single mom who has more money than brains. Good thing Gibson was in the movie to save the day, and the boy played his part well.

Surprisingly good
A surprisingly good movie considering it was Mel Gibson's first directorial effort, and also considering the role required Gibson to obscure his matinee-idol looks and assume the role of a horribly scarred, possibly disreputable outcast in a cliquey, suspicious little Maine coastal town.

Nick Stahl as the young boy who befriends Gibson is also terrific in the role. No doubt the kid has a bright future in acting. He is absolutely convincing as the young hopeful pursuing his dream of getting into an exclusive boarding school. His dysfunctional family can only pour cold water on the boy's dreams, and in that sense the two are made for each other--Stahl is an outcast even though surrounded by his own family--and Gibson is already a social outcast who has completely withdrawn from society and is living in mysterious solitude--a solitude no-one has dared intrude upon until Stahl stubbornly refuses to be turned away by Gibson's outwardly gruff exterior.

But the two come together when Stahl learns Gibson was a talented teacher once and can tutor him in the subjects he desperately needs to ace the exam into the exclusive boarding school. They overcome their own emotional baggage to forge a working friendship despite their difficulties.

Unfortunately, the movie strays off-base for a while with the kangaroo-court scene with the suspicious townies, who still have it in for Gibson, and the final ending is a little too short, but those are my only real criticisms.

All in all a very well cast, acted, and scripted film. Big Steve says go see it (or in this case, rent it) and don't Bogart the popcorn.

The last thing I wanted to mention is that I wonder if anybody else has noticed the similarity between this film and Stephen Crane's story, "The Monster?" Crane is of course known most for his Civil War novel, "The Red Badge of Courage."

The Outcast
Mel Gibson stars as a man who is hiding from a past that haunts him. In this, his directoral debut, he displayed that he was serious about his new found profession and announced that he was here to stay. Nick Stahl star's as a young boy with darkness in his own past. After having trouble at school, he gathers up all of the bravery he can muster to ask the reclusive hermit, known to the locals as "Hamburger Head", if he will help him with his school work. After much hesitation, Mcleod (Gibson) gives in. The first lesson he gives the boy is digging a hole, and you can guess how much the boy likes that.

The Man without a Face explores the deep relationship that can be shared after a man has been hurt, and a boy looses his father. Both of them have secrets, and both quickly develop a bond. Its one of Gibson's finest movies.

The only problem I had with the movie, was the predictable situation that the movie places Gibson and the Boy in near the end. I don't want to spoil it, but it would have been more enjoyable and less formulaic if they hadn't gone in that direction. Besides that small detail, all of the plot surrounding the incident is terrific, worth your time, and your tissues. If you want to study Nick Stahl in his other movies, he can be found in MTV'S "Wasted", and the great shocker "Bully". Also, he has a cameo (like everybody else) in "The Thin Red Line." ... Read more

Description

In this riveting, high-energy suspense thriller, special effects wizard Rollie Tyler (Brian Brown) is enlisted by the Justice Department to stage what will be the most elaborate assignment of his lifetime--if it doesn't kill him first! ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Refreshing Suspense Movie
F/X is an abbreviation for movie "special effects." Bryan Brown plays a special effects creator who unwittingly becomes part of a conspiracy. He is supposed to be a pawn who is to be eliminated. Instead of despairing and panicking, he uses his wits and his effects to elude his pursuers, who are not even identified until the end. F/X was produced in 1986, long before the sophisticated computer generated effects ubiquitous today. Yet the movie is not outdated. Rather, it is a classic that will leave you smiling. The clever, maze-like plot, and the great team of Bryan Brown and Bryan Dennehy add up to a refreshing, surprising classic of the 80's.

Sadly, the sequel - FX2 - is a big letdown.

Good Low Budget Fun!
Me and my brother were flipping through the TV channels, and nothing was on, I mean nothing. Anyway we got to the Movie Channel (STAR Movies) and saw what looked like the opening credits, and then big blue words came across the screen reading "F/X." So we watched it, saw if it was any good. Let me say we were pretty surprised! It was pretty obvious that it was shot on a low budget. That made me like it all the more! Becuase you usually get a famous rich director and writers to put together a good action/suspense movie. But those movies, sience the director has alot of money he just figures he'll blow the hell out of everything. It gets pretty annoying. But that is what I love about this movie. Sense they didn't have a lot of money they kept the movie good was the writing and directing. Dispite the name (F/X) it is not what the movie reliys on. It relies on a smart plot and even smarter plot twists. You never know who the villian is. Plus the well mantled suspense is a plus. I cant say the biggest part of the plot, but I can sya what it starts with. This aussie dude who makes special FX for movies (hense the name) is assigned to stage an assination on a gang member (but not really kill him, just make it look like he got killed with his special effect tricks. But after that it just takes so many turns, it makes it into a fantastic whodunit. I reccomend this for anyone who enjoys a well written and directed whodunit that will keep you thinking and guesing till the last bullet is shot.

F/X is a great movie with clever ideas in plot and action!
F/X starring Brian Brown and Brian Dennehy is a great Action/ Suspense thriller! This is about a special effects man who is hired by the Witness Protection program to stage an assination of a crime lord. Rollie Tyler(Brian Brown) was baited to take the blame for the assination and now he must prove his inoccents and must confront the man who framed him. Mason is the guy who hired Rollie Tyler (Brian Brown) to take the fall. Leo McCarthy(Brian Dennehy) is the tough Cop who must find Rollie and figure out who resposible for these deaths. A very ingenious movie! Clever plot with suprises and tricks! Highly Recommended!

A lot of fun
F/X was one of my favorite thriller of the '80s, a genuinely fun action film that takes itself just seriously enough to make its story credible but at the same time remains blissfully free of the delusions of grandeur that have led to so many overproduced, ultimately empty headed and painfully dull "thrillers" over the past couple of years. In short, F/X is the type of unpretentious, engaging film that could never be made by a Michael Bay or most of the other directors produced out of the Jerry Bruckhiemer School For Technocrats Who Like To Blow Things Up Real Good.

The always underrated australian actor, Bryan Brown, plays Rollie -- an independent special effects artist who specializes in creating gore effects for cheap horror and action films. Indeed, when we first meet him, he is working on a film that bares a hilarious resemblance to Brian DePalma's Scarface which, whatever its qualities, is most definitely represenative of the type of film that F/X strives not to become. Brown is recruited by an uptight but reassuringly paternal federal agent (Mason Adams) to help fake the death of a mobster (Jerry Orbach) about to go into the federal witness protection program. Once Brown agrees to help, he finds himself being targeted and pursued by mysterious killers who might be the government, might be the mob, or might be something else.

The film's main selling point is that, in order to protect his own life and clear his name once the police become convinced that he's a murderer, Brown is forced to rely on his expertise in hollywood special effects. While that certainly is true, it also makes the film sound a lot more gimmicky than it actually is. As opposed to its sequel, F/X never allows itself to become reliant solely on that gimmick. Instead, the film concentrates on presenting its fast-paced plot which, over the course of many twists and turns, avoids the common action film fate of collapsing on the wieght of its own complications. That said, the F/X sequences are pretty cool and the film's conclusion provides perhaps the wittiest advertisement for superglue that I've ever seen.

The film's main strength comes from the cast who all seem to be having a good time on screen and bring a surprising sense of conviction to roles that could easily have been played as B-movie stereotypes. Bryan Brown is one of those charismatic, obviously talented leading men who rarely gives a bad performance yet for whatever reason (though making movies like Cocktail probably didn't help) has never become a bona fide star. Playing the lead in this film, he proves that he did have the talent and the charisma to be a leading man and indeed, his low-key but likeable lead performance is reponsible for a great deal of F/X's strength. As the gruff police detective who becomes Brown's ally, Brian Dennehey is -- well, he's Brian Dennehey and, as always, that's more than good enough. That said, he also brings a welcome sense of humor to the proceedings and he proves once again that nobody in the '80s delivered profanity as wittily and skillfully as Brian Dennehey. The rest of the cast is full of character actors who all turn in nicely quirky performances with the standouts being Diane Venora who is sweet as Brown's girlfreind (whose ultimate fate -- if predictable -- is also well handled and rather sad), Cliff De Young who gives perhaps his best variation on his standard Yuppie henchman role in this film, Joe Grifasi as Dennehey's put upon partner, Mason Adams who perfectly captures the essence of everyone's kindly but kinda strange uncle, and the great Jerry Orbach who, playing a mobster with an all-important pace maker, overacts as if the world depending on it but is still a lot of fun to watch because, afterall, he's Jerry Orbach. They all come together to create (without any trendy angst or computerized special effects to show us what animated human beings look like when they get blown up) one of the most purely enjoyable movies of the '80s.

Starts well, meanders into blandness.
Bryan Brown is a special effects man who is caught up in a government conspiracy after a major mishap. This "high-tech" thriller begins fairly well before falling apart with badly choreographed action scenes, predictable twists, and a very underwhelming finale. ... ... Read more

Description

Mary and Rhoda from television’s The Mary Tyler Moore Show are finally reunited. Mary returns to her native New York City following the death of her Congressman husband in a rock climbing accident.Similarly, Rhoda returns to New York City from Paris where she has just recently left and divorced her husband, Jean Pierre.Both Mary and Rhoda are trying to deal with their college-aged daughters.Mary’s daughter Rose is a student at New York University and Rhoda’s Meredith is pre-med at Columbia.They now face the challenges of motherhood and reestablishing their careers in a very difficult time.Once again, Mary and Rhoda take on these challenges by trusting their intuition with that distinct sense of humor and sophistication they made famous in the original television series. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Funny About Love
Let me begin by saying that I read the review about this movie by "petershelley". WHOA! How could anyone be so opposite of everything this movie was about!! He does not have a clue and I mean not one about life, people, love, emotion, vulnerability and what it is really all about. This guy is so off base I actually pity what a superficial life he must live. He needs to get off his pedestal and get down here where the real people live. I believe that the performance by Gene Wilder was phenomenol and I could FEEL his pain when his wife walked out the door after their break-up. Knowing Mr. Wilder's history with his departed wife, Gilda Radner, one can only guess at his source of the emotion he exibited in that scene. No wonder I could feel it-I don't think you call that acting. I think it was real. Does Mr. Shelley know what it feels like to want to have a child and not be able to? I think not. If he did he would understand the motivation behind the actions of Duffy in the movie "Funny About Love". ANYONE who has been there knows that you CANNOT intellectualize about such a thing as Mr. Shelley does in his review. IT JUST IS. Christine Lahti's character represents so much of what it is to be a woman these days and try to be everything to everyone and not lose herself and her dreams and ambitions. She very much needed to know that Duffy loved her more than he loved the dream of having a child. That what we have in the here and now is all we really ever have, and even that is temporary. Mary Stuart Masterson of course brought so much humor to a really pretty sad situation. Because of her ability to love unconditionally she was able to give something extraordinary of herself to someone she loved and cared about without having to OWN that person. She was able, out of friendship or love, to fulfill the dream of another human being and complete his life. What greater gift is there on this earth? What an amazing movie, I loved every minute of it and can't believe it has taken it over 10 years to cross my path. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS MOVIE and of course "Immediate Family" is right up there with it. Alexis Baughman

Gene Wilder Rules In This Romantic Comedy!!
Gene Wilder rules in this romantic comedy also co-starring Christine Lahti.It's a must see!!

Duffy Bergman¿s biological clock is about to go off
This tale of Gene Wilder as a Gary Trudeau-like celebrity political humourist doesn't work as comedy, drama or romance. The screenplay by Norman Steinberg and David Frankel is based on an Esquire article by Bob Greene entitled Convention of the Love Goddesses, which is represented by Wilder speaking at an all female college, declaring that men are "self-pitying" and in awe of women. However this hardly qualifies as feminism, which director Leonard Nimoy amusingly plays with by having Wilder's car pass a line of phallic trees. The only relationship he seems to have with a woman where Wilder isn't controlling or negative is his affair with the much younger Mary Stuart Masterson, and even this is invalidated by his unwillingness to declare his emotion, echoed in Sotto Voce being the name of a featured restaurant.
The main romance here is with Christine Lahti. At first her disinterest in him gives her some strength. She is a waitress at a book signing event of his yet unimpressed with his fame. However wardrobe dress her in Annie Hall-wear and soon she is revealed to be self-consciously weak, which diminishes Lahti's otherwise appealing qualities. The inability of the couple to bear a child sours their relationship, and Lahti bears the teary-eyed guilt.
What is noticable about the treatment is the parallels to be made with Woody Allen movies, specifically Annie Hall and Manhattan. Masterson is a bad driver like Diane Keaton was, and swears the way Keaton did in Manhattan, and the age difference recalls Allen and Mariel Hemmingway. Wilder too gets his share of arrogant jokes at the expense of others, and has Allen's ability to extend his performance beyond the comic persona. His reductive James Cagney imitation is about the only thing I liked.
At first Nimoy paces at a clip, aided by the music score of Miles Goodman, but soon the timing comes to a holt and we're left stranded with people we'd rather do without. It's not encouraging that Anne Jackson as Wilder's acerbic mother is quickly disposed of. The treatment's continued coverage of Lahti telegraphs events, and only the most desperate of romantics can be pleased with the conclusion. ... Read more

Reviews (17)

sadness as a comedy?
I have to say to those who didn't see this film - it's not a comedy at all, it's about being lonely and being sad, and about how when you live in a lonely sadness all your life, what happens when you have to change it in a moment? I thought it was lovely, the acting was perfect for the rolls, and the soundtrack added a lot to the movie.

One major flaw with this film.
David Schwimmer. I'll admit it. He grates on my nerves like it's no one's business. I find him annoying, cloying, and repulsive in every role I've seen him in. He's the major reason I avoid Friends like the plague (although there are plenty of other reasons for that). But this movie also has the anti-Schwimmer: Gwyneth Paltrow. I can't explain exactly why, but I find her enchanting and intriguing. (Maybe it's because she is a terrific actress, or because she seems so sweet and nice even off the screen.) So, there you have have it. A movie with two polar extremes ... the hideous and the sublime, the awful and beautiful, the appalling and the ... you get the point.

Some people might quickly dismiss this movie as a Graduate wannabe. There's some truth to that. The Pallbearer is quite derivative of the Graduate; it's a play on the young man, older woman, younger woman triangle, and it certainly doesn't have the Graduate's silkiness--or it's wise intelligence. There's nothing in the Pallbearer that matches the uneasy end where Dustin Hoffman and Katherine Ross nervously sit at the back of the bus with this quietly panicky, "What now?" look on their faces.

But it does have some well-orchestrated moments, including a brunch from hell, and some genuine, quirky characters. I'd give it a chance; it's worth watching. And if you can stomach David Schwimmer, you might really like it.

Not funny
The box advertises a hilarious movie. It was not bad, just not funny.

Pleasant enough little film.
Despite the utter comtempt and loathing I have for Friends (For being the most obvious, stupid, unfunny comedy very much
like the equally appalling Will & Grace), I nevertheless quite enjoyed David Swimmer's performance in this film. It was quite an enjoyable, lighthearted if slightly predictable romantic comedy. Paltrow was even reasonably good in it. So whilst not exactly a masterpiece, nonetheless an interesting little Black comedy for those moments whwn you have nothing else better to do.

good
i liked this despite my mothers views. it's a cute romance and tragedy. ... Read more

Description

The title for this play is taken from a little known nursery rhyme, which involves a game between mother and child. The drama opens in the elegant reception room of a clinic where five women await a first reunion with their children from who they have been separated for two months. As the scene proceeds, their discomfort escalates; the tension, now palpable, suggest there are more complicated issues at play. It seems the children have been participants in an unusual experiment - never fully revealed. The women continue to wait...collective pawns in a situation over which they have no control. Their personal reactions to the stress reveal much about their characters. By Marsha Sheiness. ... Read more