I *love* "That Old Feeling" and it bugs me that
this effervescent bedroom farce is not received as a classic along the lines of
"It Happened One Night" or "When Harry Met Sally." For my
money, it's a masterpiece in its genre. Comedy is a lot like music. It requires
timing, choreography, and expertise to look effortless. "That Old
Feeling" is the product of a master – director Carl Reiner – and it shows
in every gesture, every beat, every scene. "That Old Feeling" is
smart, witty, bubbly, bouncy, sharp and sweet from first scene to last.
"That Old Feeling" doesn't make much sense; it
isn't supposed to. It's supposed to make you laugh and feel romantic and good
about life, and it does. Anyone, of any age, could see this movie and feel,
afterward, that they could walk out the door and stumble across the love of
their life. Though I've watched this movie several times, I still laugh out
loud at favorite gags.
Molly (Paula Marshall) a straight-laced twenty-something,
is marrying Keith (James Denton), a ridiculously handsome politician's son.
Molly's divorced parents have not seen each other for years. Lily (Bette
Midler) is an actress. Dan (Dennis Farina) is a writer. They hate each other.
They, in turn, are married to Alan (David Rasche) a therapist and self-help
author, and Rowena (Gail O'Grady) an interior decorator. Lily is being chased
by Joey (Danny Nucci) a paparazzi.
The rules of the bedroom farce genre are that a roundelay
of characters must rapidly pair off in unlikely ways, their pairings interspersed
with improbable plot devices and lots of slamming doors and aghast hands to
faces as couplings are discovered. That's pretty much all that happens in
"That Old Feeling," right up until the very last moments of the
movie. It's no small feat that Reiner keeps all these juggled balls bobbing
compellingly in the air.
It's all funny and sexy and smart, but it's also actually
pretty deep. "That Old Feeling," like all good bedroom farces,
comments on love and hate and attraction, commitment, fidelity, and adultery,
and on relationship trade-offs. All of the characters in this film are likeable
and they are all flawed. If character X ends up with potential partner Y, she
will gain in one area of her life, but lose in another. Charm v stability.
Passion v consistency. Love/hate v security. The exciting unknown v the old
reliable.
Every performance is terrific. Bette Midler is, well,
Bette Midler. She's never been better than she is here. I often find her
over-the-top but here she is just the right amount of the Divine Miss M. David
Rasche, a former member of the Second City troupe, makes me laugh every time he
is onscreen as the therapist and self-help author. He's every bit as funny as
Will Ferrell. Danny Nucci is appropriately sleazy and scruffy and he is also
wonderful after his transformation via wet fingers and another man's jacket.
Dennis Farina is amazingly, wonderfully hot as an arrogant, macho guy who gets
what he wants by waving large bills between his fingers under the noses of
hotel staff. I could go through the whole cast but suffice it to say that every
performance is funny, tender, human, and expert.
One of the lovely plusses of "That Old
Feeling." It depicts people over fifty having sex and enjoying it.
I watch this movie over and over because I love the
signature of a master's hand in every scene. In the opening scene, a man
proposes marriage to a woman. In the background, there is a bouquet of flowers.
The flowers are onscreen for less than a minute, but they are lit so
beautifully it takes my breath away. It's that kind of meticulous attention to
detail that makes a movie worth watching for me.
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