Just the Way You Are (1984)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Edouard Molinaro

Writer:

Allan Burns (writer)

Release Date:

16 November 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Susan is a young, beautiful and successful flute player, but because of her physical handicap, a lame leg...

Plot Keywords:

Flute | Cast | Leg Brace | Musician | Vacation

Cast

Kristy McNichol	...	Susan Berlanger
Michael Ontkean	...	Peter Nichols
Kaki Hunter	...	Lisa Elliott
André Dussollier	...	Francois Rossighol
Catherine Salviat	...	Nicole Schallon
Robert Carradine	...	Sam Carpenter
Alexandra Paul	...	Bobbie
Lance Guest	...	Jack the Answering Service Guy
Tim Daly	...	Frank Bantam (as Timothy Daly)
Patrick Cassidy	...	Steve Haslachez
Gérard Jugnot	...	Desk Clerk, Hotel Monte Blanc
André Oumansky	...	Paris Doctor
Billy Kearns	...	Earl Cooper, Frank's Boss
Joyce Gordon	...	Answeing Service Lady
Wayne Robson	...	Theater Assistant Manager

Runtime:

94 min | Argentina:96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:13 | USA:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Megève, Haute-Savoie, France

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Working title: "I Won't Dance".

Goofs:

Continuity: The film is supposed to be shot in the winter, but there is one scene when they fly over Paris, and you can actually see green trees all through out.

Soundtrack:

I Know There's Something Going On

Fun, but slightly flawed, movie

Given the title, I expected a little more in common with the Billy Joel song of the same name. But while the heroine at one points tells her soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend that he'll find someone to love him just the way he is, her own discovery of that fact is somewhat unclear.

Susan Berlanger (Kristi McNichol) is a pretty, talented flautist, who, unfortunately wears a leg brace. Because her disability is visible, Susan is always treated differently, to the point where she begins to feel that people don't see her, they just see her disability. This is also why her love life has been a disaster. She is all set to marry her gay friend, Frank (Tim Daly), in order to help him hide his sexuality to get ahead in business, but decides not to when she realizes that the marriage won't meet her - or his - sexual needs. After she and her best friend, Lisa (Kaki Hunter) experience a series of disastrous relationships, Susan gets booked on a European tour. While in France, Susan hits upon an idea to find out how people will react if they don't know she is disabled - hide the disability. So, she gets a doctor to put a cast on her bad leg, and heads off to a ski resort. Once there, she meets an assortment of colorful characters: Nicole (Catherine Salviat), a single woman having an affair with a married man who stands her up so that she and Susan have to share a room; Francois Rossignol (Andre Dussollier), a former skier who lost a leg; Peter Nichols (Michael Ontkean), a handsome professional photographer there to shoot a ski competition; and Bobbie (Alexandra Paul), Peter's insufferable girlfriend. As Susan's vacation progresses, she does all kinds of things she's never done before, including winning a ski race. Peter's growing attraction to Susan causes his relationship with Bobbie to break up. And while the feelings are mutual, Susan begins to feel uneasy that she is deceiving Peter, but can't figure out how to tell him about her disability. Will she, or will they part without Peter ever knowing?

The premise is intriguing, in that the only way Susan can find out how people will feel about her is by hiding her disability. And yet, once she does that, at some point, she will have to come clean about it. Unfortunately, her revelation is done in such an anticlimactic way, that the viewer is left unsure what, if anything, she has learned as a result of her stay at the ski resort. Also, the movie has a disjointed feel to it, leaving the viewer wondering what Susan's bad relationships in America had to do with her adventures in France. Fortunately, the film moves along at a good pace, the action is fun, and the characters are likable, so you don't care too much that it doesn't have the depth it could. But it did leave me wondering how much better it could have been had the writers decided to explore more of Susan's self discovery.

The acting, overall, was good. McNichol never fails to give a pleasant performance, and she makes Susan likable in spite of her shortcomings. Her injection of humor into Susan's situation is exceptionally well done. Ontkean makes a wonderful leading man, playing Peter as someone who definitely looks beneath the surface and who is far more interested in what he finds there. Salviat and Dussollier are delightful as people with distinctly European sensibilities, who completely confuse Susan. Hunter does a nice job with Lisa, giving us a woman who knows her shortcomings, and has learned to live with them. The only weak performance was Alexandra Paul as Bobbie, who was so one dimensional that it was painful. While Bobbie was indeed shallow and self absorbed, a good portrayal of her would have given the viewer some sympathy for her losing her man. Paul's performance makes you want to applaud as she stamps off after throwing her final tantrum. The rest of the supporting cast does a good job of keeping things light.

Visually, it's a lovely film, especially the ski resort, which has an air of leisure and celebration completely appropriate to the action taking place there.

Overall, this is a fun film, and a very enjoyable one, but it still leaves the nagging question of how much better it could have been had it paused to do a little more exploration of Susan's self discovery, and shown you that she was indeed lovable just the way she was.