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Funny About Love
The late Gene Wilder didn't get a lot of opportunities in his too brief career to go straight romantic leading man but he makes the most of the chance in a forgotten 1990 comedy called Funny About Love, that a charismatic cast helps to smooth out the rough spots.
Wilder plays Duffy, a political cartoonist whose cartoon is about to become a television show. Christine Lahti, another performer not known for romantic leads, plays Meg, an effervescent chef who makes lousy cappuccino and wants a baby. Duffy and Meg meet and marry, but the marriage is strained to its limits when they are unable to conceive a child. Duffy and Meg separate and Meg finds success as the head chef at an upscale Manhattan eatery while Duffy falls for a production assistant on his TV show named Daphne (Mary Stuart Masterson).
As wonderful as the lead actors are here, this film still moves with all the momentum of a funeral dirge that makes a 1 hour and 40 minute movie seem like it's four hours long. Considering what the film actually turns out to be about, the beginning of the film documenting Duffy and Meg's brief courtship could have been eliminated all together. they could have opened the film with Duffy and Meg's wedding and saved us 20 minutes off the top. The screenplay seems to be taking the concept of being unable to conceive a little too lightly and it is manifested mostly through Duffy's character, who is our only conduit into Meg's pain and his often insensitivity into how difficult this is for her doesn't exactly help the viewer like Duffy.
I also have to confess that I never really bought the relationship between Duffy and Daphne and was not pleased with the reveal that Duffy actually gets her pregnant, because when he and Meg are trying to conceive, their doctor (David Margulies) would always skirt the issue when Duffy and Meg wanted to know which one of them was making it impossible for them to conceive.
What does work here is two superb starring performances from Gene Wilder and Christine Lahti that put the viewer in support of their relationship from the minute they meet. Wilder seems to be really enjoying this voyage into new cinematic territory and it's a shame he didn't get anymore opportunities to do this kind of role (he would only do one more theatrical feature after this one). Robert Prosky and Anne Jackson are fun as Duffy's parents and there are cameos from Regis Philbin and Patrick Ewing. The film definitely has its problems, especially the lackluster direction of Leonard Nimoy, but fans of Wilder and Lahti will find some gold here.
The late Gene Wilder didn't get a lot of opportunities in his too brief career to go straight romantic leading man but he makes the most of the chance in a forgotten 1990 comedy called Funny About Love, that a charismatic cast helps to smooth out the rough spots.
Wilder plays Duffy, a political cartoonist whose cartoon is about to become a television show. Christine Lahti, another performer not known for romantic leads, plays Meg, an effervescent chef who makes lousy cappuccino and wants a baby. Duffy and Meg meet and marry, but the marriage is strained to its limits when they are unable to conceive a child. Duffy and Meg separate and Meg finds success as the head chef at an upscale Manhattan eatery while Duffy falls for a production assistant on his TV show named Daphne (Mary Stuart Masterson).
As wonderful as the lead actors are here, this film still moves with all the momentum of a funeral dirge that makes a 1 hour and 40 minute movie seem like it's four hours long. Considering what the film actually turns out to be about, the beginning of the film documenting Duffy and Meg's brief courtship could have been eliminated all together. they could have opened the film with Duffy and Meg's wedding and saved us 20 minutes off the top. The screenplay seems to be taking the concept of being unable to conceive a little too lightly and it is manifested mostly through Duffy's character, who is our only conduit into Meg's pain and his often insensitivity into how difficult this is for her doesn't exactly help the viewer like Duffy.
I also have to confess that I never really bought the relationship between Duffy and Daphne and was not pleased with the reveal that Duffy actually gets her pregnant, because when he and Meg are trying to conceive, their doctor (David Margulies) would always skirt the issue when Duffy and Meg wanted to know which one of them was making it impossible for them to conceive.
What does work here is two superb starring performances from Gene Wilder and Christine Lahti that put the viewer in support of their relationship from the minute they meet. Wilder seems to be really enjoying this voyage into new cinematic territory and it's a shame he didn't get anymore opportunities to do this kind of role (he would only do one more theatrical feature after this one). Robert Prosky and Anne Jackson are fun as Duffy's parents and there are cameos from Regis Philbin and Patrick Ewing. The film definitely has its problems, especially the lackluster direction of Leonard Nimoy, but fans of Wilder and Lahti will find some gold here.