Rating: 
Summary: A lot of talent wasted on a weak screenplay
Review: This film took over three years to bring to the screen with a budget of over $90 million. Having grossed less than $7 million at the box office, it stands out as one of the biggest box office disasters in history. Actually, it isn't that bad, but it is by no means as good a film as one would suppose looking at the cast.The film features an outstanding cast, but an undistinguished director and writing team. The result is a whole lot of talented people going through the motions saying lines that are seldom funny in skits that are mostly insipid. The story is a typical midlife crisis comedy where Porter (Warren Beatty) and Griffin (Garry Shandling) perpetrate various indiscretions on their loyal wives of 25 years. This is clearly a comedy aimed at the 45+ demographic with little traction among the younger moviegoers that represent the lion share of entertainment dollars spent. The ensemble cast of noted veterans does a decent job with sparse material. Warren Beatty gives the best performance, with a plenty of good physical comedy despite the weak lines. Goldie Hawn and Jenna Elfman are also good. Diane Keaton and Garry Shandling are well off their game in this film and Andie MacDowell and Nastassja Kinski are little more than window dressing. Charleton Heston steals the show with an outrageous cameo as MacDowell's father. This film fails to scratch its way above the water line with a great deal of (expensive) talent wasted. The whole is far less than the sum of the parts. I rated it a 5/10. It's worth a try for middle aged viewers.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the worst. movies we've ever tried to watch
Review: This was one of the worst movies my husband and I ever tried to watch. We finally gave up and I threw our DVD away. We were looking forward to watching it because of the cast, but that just proves that you need more than very good actores to make a good movie. Nothing seemed funny to us; I find it strange that it got better reviews than "My Fellow Americans" and "Her Alibi." We enjoyed the first one and thought the second one was cute, but they got trounced. Which might also prove that you have to be an outspoken liberal to get a good review in Hollywood?
Rating:
Summary: One of the worst. movies we've ever tried to watch
Review: This was one of the worst movies my husband and I ever tried to watch. We finally gave up and I threw our DVD away. We were looking forward to watching it because of the cast, but that just proves that you need more than very good actores to make a good movie. Nothing seemed funny to us; I find it strange that it got better reviews than "My Fellow Americans" and "Her Alibi." We enjoyed the first one and thought the second one was cute, but they got trounced. Which might also prove that you have to be an outspoken liberal to get a good review in Hollywood?
Rating: 
Summary: Goldie & Warren reunite but this is no Shampoo
Review: Town & Country echoes one of Beatty's best films, Shampoo. But where that film was brave, this film is cowardly. Shampoo revolved around an aging Casanova who slept with any woman he could. And in the end, he paid the price. The honest look at Beatty's character George was unflinching, we saw all the warts. We didn't approve of the hurt he inflicted, but we came close to understanding why he acted the way he did. And in the end, George was evaluated by his own actions.
Town & Country demonstrates why Hollywood so often fails when it attempts to tackle anything larger than a comic book or a computer game. Few writers even try to tell the truth and Buck Henry & Michael Laughlin aren't writing a script here, they're sketching in the sort of sneering, superficial theme that's been bombing at the box office since Burt Reynolds starred in The Man Who Loved Women.
Warren Beatty's a married man this time out, to Diane Keaton. It's many years past Shampoo or Bonnie & Clyde and those years show. But somehow he's still catnip to assorted females (Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Nastassja Kinski and Andie MacDowell).
Is it his winning personality? His clever jokes? Can't be, they don't exist. Maybe it's the fact that he looks at every woman like she's a piece of meat? Is he that great in bed? Judging by the one scene we see, Goldie's doing all the work and he's just lying there.
And after all the infidelities in his marriage to Keaton, the narration and the last scene leave us with the impression that their relationship will return . . . to "normal?" Why is that? Call it the Cruise Can't Lose principal for those with shorter memories. He's the leading man. Don't look for insight into the plot turns, they exist only to celebrate his leading man status.
Maybe if someone (writer, director, producer, star, studio -- all of them?) wasn't so convinced he was likeable, a little honesty could have been tossed into this film. For it to work, you have to see that Beatty's a misogynist. The plot adds up to that. The film celebrates that (a reviewer cited the "confusing" scene where Beatty, son Josh Hartnett and the daughter's lover gather in the kitchen for a late night snack and seemingly bond in some insignificant way -- they're bonding over what "studs" they are -- only the film doesn't have the guts to carry it off -- or maybe the makers just don't get that's what's going on?).
This is the story of a one time pretty boy Casanova, now long past his prime. He's bored in a long term marriage. He cheats. And cheats. And then when his wife catches on to his cheating, he realizes he wants his marriage. Okay, got the storyline? Who did they think the audience for this film was? Cheating husbands?
To be funny, this film needs to laugh at Beatty, not fawn over him. But the makers of the film don't seem to realize that. In Shampoo, Beatty played a character (unmarried, true) who behaved similarly and the reason it worked was because it was honest about the character's motives. It didn't gloss over it or try to give George (Beatty's character) a happy ending -- and the honesty, as well as Beatty not getting to have it all, is the reason we cared in that film.
That Beatty, who's associated with films that broke down Hollywood fluff (i.e. Bonnie & Clyde, Shampoo, etc.), would participate in this recycled, nostalgic garbage is shocking. To say he's playing it safe gives the film far too much credit. It's not safe, it's condescending.
The actresses try to play the roles, some succeed due to their talent. Goldie succeeds the most and is the only first rate thing about this film. Perhaps she's still smarting over not getting to play Julie Christie's role in Shampoo (as she wanted to) but she pours everything she has into the role of Mona (which is an echo of Christie's Jackie in many ways -- though Hawn gives the character more drive and certainly more warts). Goldie's hilarious and when she's offscreen the movie just lies flat.
Mona's the bad woman. The woman who would stab her own best friend in the back by sleeping with said friend's husband. Note to Beatty, Mona does unlikeable things but the honesty of the character doesn't make you hate Goldie. Ellie's the good wife (the kind of part that Hawn played in Shampoo when she played Beatty's lover Jill) who suffers and suffers so nobly. Keaton's unique way with syntax and delivery brighten up this role a little but she's wasted in it. Alex is a daffy, free spirit. And at twenty-two years younger, of course Kinski paired with Beatty makes perfect sense (that's sarcasm). Then we have Andie MacDowell in the most insulting role -- Daddy's little girl. MacDowell has the talent to turn this into a laugh-fest but for that to happen, we need the character to have a moment, at least one. None of the female characters (including Jenna Elfman's) are written, they're sketched. Hawn's anger and rage seem more of an acting choice (and a good one -- they flesh out an otherwise one-note character), but even with all she's bringing to the film, the makers don't care one bit about Mona.
All the women exist to testify to Beatty's likeability (and apparently his potency). A funny film could have been made exploring characters like these women or a funny film could have been made about how pathetic Beatty's character truly is. But apparently to do either of those things would have risked Beatty's likeability. The deer-lost-in-the-headlights innocence got old a long time ago, but Beatty seems determined to continue playing tallish-boys. Some day, maybe he'll make a honest movie that explores the sickness of that.
Rating:
Summary: RE: Waste of Time.
Review: Unfortunately Town & Country was a total waste of time and good talent. Everything about this movie was painfully bad, from the writing to the directing to the uninspired acting of a tremendously talented cast. The movie just never took off and lacked any spark of intelligence or energy. Do not waste your time or money.
Rating:
Summary: RE: Waste of Time.
Review: Unfortunately Town & Country was a total waste of time and good talent. Everything about this movie was painfully bad, from the writing to the directing to the uninspired acting of a tremendously talented cast. The movie just never took off and lacked any spark of intelligence or energy. Do not waste your time or money.
Rating:
Summary: "Town & Country" Not Out to Pasture
Review: While this movie isn't as bad as its reviews, it was lacking in some areas. The characterization was pretty good...but the storyline dragged on and didn't really seem to be going anywhere. And I'm not sure it actually did. On the positive side, Goldie Hawn was wonderful as usual and more attention should have been paid to her as a comedy great. Although a weird subplot, I thought Andie McDowell and her family to be a rare treat. Although it was her psychotic father played by Charlton Heston that was given more screen time, her mother--suffering from a rampant wheelchair and the mouth of a sailor--was the standout and should have been used more for comedic purposes. She was the highlight of the movie!
Rating:
Summary: town & country
Review: Worst film with so many stars that I have seen for quite some time. So many scenes were so pitiful. Nothing funny about this movie. All of the characters were pathetic.
Rating:
Summary: Why not give it a glance on the positive side?
Review: Wow... look at all the big names out there: Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Gary Shandling, Andie McDowell, Nastassja Kinsky, Charlton Heston, Jenna Elfman, Josh Harnett... They somehow reminded me of another star-studded movie, "Everyone says I love you" (featuring Woody Allen, Goldie Hawn, Alan Alda, Julia Roberts, Edward Norton, Drew Barrymore, Natasha Lyonne, Natalie Portman...) which remains one of the best comedies ever. My point is, don't blame it on the actors. They could be at their best or at their worst (and they all got bills to pay don't they?) That being said, I believe poor movies like "Town & Country" are worth being made, just to render fairness and more value to good movies like "Everyone says I love you".
Rating: 
Summary: Laugh out loud
Review: You'd have to be really frigid not to like this. garry shandling is, as usual, hilariously wicked. Especially during the scenes set in Sun Valley. Jenna Elfman and Andy Mcdowall round out a superbly funny cast. Look for the scenes set in the 5th Avenue apartment with all the boyfriends of the daughter and maid running around in various stages of undress. It's just wickedly funny stuff that makes you want to laugh out loud even when you're not supposed to.
|
