Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 20, 1995 TAG: 9505240009
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHERINE REED STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Often, a movie's star or stars are so wonderful, they can make up for other deficits. In this case, the supporting cast, the friends of Mickey (Crystal) and Ellen (Debra Winger) who are telling the strange, sad tale of the couple's romantic history, are funny and interesting enough to almost make up for the fact that the couple at the center of the story is a total drag.
Two cases of arrested development. Bores. Whiners. In fact, when they actually, finally show up in the present time of the film - in a restaurant where their friends are celebrating another couple's engagement (how LIKE Mickey and Ellen to be late and, ultimately, upstage their friends' happy occasion) - you kinda just want them to go wherever it is they're going and let the party happen.
The story begins in said restaurant, where the engaged couple Andy (Joe Mantegna) and Liz (Cynthia Stevenson) are waiting for their friends. In attempting to describe Mickey and Ellen to Liz, Andy launches into a detailed description of how the two met, a telling that is taken up by Craig (Richard Masur) and his wife (Julie Kavner) when they arrive and, finally, by Jack (John Spencer) and Lois (Cathy Moriarty).
The story has its funny moments: like the night Mickey, a referee in the NBA, threw both starting teams out on technical fouls, so cross was he with Ellen-related worries. Or the day Ellen got a pigeon stuck to her face.
But in most ways, Mickey and Ellen's story is overly familiar. After an incredibly romantic chance meeting - in Paris, to make matters worse - they throw their lives together, get married and wake up one day wondering what went wrong.
There is a moment in the film - before they've wed - where Ellen actually says to Mickey, "You want to talk about religion or politics or whether we ought to have kids?"
"No," Mickey says. "That stuff will work itself out."
And it's supposed to be a joke.
The actual wisdom (such as it is), comes from the friends. Like Craig, who says, "Marriage can't work when one person is happy and the other person is miserable."
Or Julie Kavner's character, who tells a nostalgic Ellen, "Forget Paris. He was courting. Men will do anything when they're courting."
It's a kind of Woody Allen setup: Wise-cracking, angst-ridden male protagonist with a basketball obsession who can't seem to grow up enough to have an adult relationship. Slightly neurotic female struggling with her Self ("I know I'm in here somewhere," Winger whines) and her selfish mate. And a backdrop of friends we don't know well enough to dislike.
Maybe "Forget Paris" could have worked if Mickey and Ellen weren't such hopeless cases. If Debra Winger had even a modicum of comic timing. If Crystal had the depth to convey, well, depth.
But with so many elements missing, "Forget Paris" is, ultimately, forgettable.
Forget Paris
**
A Castle Rock release, showing at Tanglewood Mall Cinema. 1 hour and 45 minutes. Rated PG-13 for some bad words and adult situations.
by CNB