IMDb > Heartburn (1986)
Heartburn
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Heartburn (1986) More at IMDbPro »

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Heartburn (1986) -- Trailerfan.com - Trailer (Flash)

Overview

User Rating:
5.8/10   2,899 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
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Director:
Mike Nichols
Writers:
Nora Ephron (novel)
Nora Ephron (screenplay)
Contact:
View company contact information for Heartburn on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
25 July 1986 (USA) more
Genre:
Comedy | Drama | Romance more
Tagline:
Two Oscar Winning Stars Combine With An Oscar Winning Director [UK Theatrical] more
Plot:
Rachel and Mark are both Washington journalists. They meet at a wedding and not long after they get married themselves... more | add synopsis
Awards:
1 win more
User Comments:
Uneven, but less manufactured than Ephron's subsequent films more (32 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
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Additional Details

Runtime:
108 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono
Filming Locations:
Alexandria, Virginia, USA more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The movie is based on Nora Ephron's real-life marriage to, and divorce from, Carl Bernstein and the birth of their two sons. The woman Bernstein had an affair with was Margaret Jay - wife of the British Ambassador to the United States, and daughter of British Prime Minister James Callaghan. Margaret Jay became a Baroness herself in 1992, and rose to become the first female Leader of the House of Lords from 1998-2001. more
Quotes:
Mark Forman: He has an unlisted address.
Rachel Samstat: What are you talking about?
Mark Forman: Oh, well, it's the latest thing.
Rachel Samstat: What kind of person has an unlisted address?
Mark Forman: I'll tell you what kind person. The kind that doesn't want to be dead. The kind people are trying to kill all the time.
Rachel Samstat: Why are you angry at me for?
Mark Forman: I'm not angry at you.
Rachel Samstat: Then what you shouting at me for?
Mark Forman: Because you're the only one that's here.
more
Movie Connections:
References Carousel (1956) more
Soundtrack:
Coming Around Again more

FAQ

Chapter Headings, an official version:
more
6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful.
Uneven, but less manufactured than Ephron's subsequent films, 12 November 1998
Author: darnell-2

Although somewhat artificial, the humor and "heartburn" of this Nora Ephron film seem more affecting and less manufactured than those in her more slick subsequent films, When Harry Met Sally... and Sleepless in Seattle. Perhaps the autobiographical slant helped.

Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson play a couple based on Ephron and Carl Bernstein. They meet, marry, settle in Washington, and have children. Streep's wedding-day jitters, it turns out, were amply justified; she discovers an affair between her husband and a social-climbing hostess.

Streep is so luminous and so natural that one may not realize until the end of the film how completely insipid and devoid of any distinguishing qualities her character is. "Rachel" changes from a wan, nervous divorcee (before meeting Nicholson's character) to an obsessively devoted wife and mother who keeps babbling about how happy she is.

Nicholson is well-cast as the rakish but (initially) endearing husband. The supporting cast reflects the expert hand of Juliet Taylor, Woody Allen's longtime casting director, who peppered it with many familiar faces, including Allen favorites Joanna Gleason, Caroline Aaron, and Karen Akers. Maureen Stapleton is particularly droll as Streep's shrink. Nineties audiences will enjoy seeing Kevin Spacey as a neurasthenic mugger.

The comedy in the film is somewhat uneven, but often extremely engaging, as in a running parody of "Masterpiece Theatre." And compare the spontaneous bravado of Nicholson's lopsided rendition of "Soliloquy" from Carousel (the comic highlight) to the forced quirkiness of Meg Ryan's tone-deaf "Surrey with the Fringe on Top" in When Harry Met Sally...

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more (32 total)

Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Heartburn (1986)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Too close to be good lanindt
loved it then, still great vkaufmann1
How bad was this movie? forbryan03
jack nicholson singing.. kellysaralynne
About Kevin Spacey... scoot1192
Annie ingie_oz
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