Essentially a soap opera, this formulary comedy drama made for television offers most of that medium's hackneyed elements, but the film moves along briskly due to the strong acting skills of its featured female players. Nick Hollander ( Patrick Cassidy), a 22 year old freshly graduated from college and now attending a cooking academy, resides with his widowed mother Lynn (Ellen Burstyn), an editor with a publishing house and, as the plot develops, it reminds a viewer of stretchout episodes from a TV series, only canned laughter missing among the familiar devices that make up the crust of the storyline. Nick and a classmate of 42 years, newly divorced Shelly Grant (Tuesday Weld), fall in love and the age disparity between them and how families and friends of each react to their affair forms the core of a film that is largely tailored for Burstyn, whose character is an overly possessive and sexually repressed mother wanting to keep her son at home instead of permitting the young man to leave her nest and oversight. The well-selected players approach the film's frivolities with a good deal of intensity and style, Burstyn, a consummate actress, displaying impeccable timing, her rather jejune lines perfectly delivered as the relationship between Lynn and Shelly becomes the most significant element in the story. A cardinal subplot depicts a reluctant attempt made by Lynn to strip away long continuing feelings of loss resulting from her husband's death six years earlier, encouraged by a work related trip to Los Angeles where she serves as copy editor for a book being completed by one of her company's best-selling authors, a pop sex therapist performed by Don Murray, with a less than convincing turn. This is a well-produced affair, the cast giving its all, although Burstyn tends to mug overmuch at times, with Weld gaining the acting laurels here as she credibly creates her role, giving Shelly a true flavour of an emotionally vulnerable woman. With few retakes, veteran television director Glenn Jordan uses setups and blocking to good effect, this trenchantly designed and costumed work also benefiting hugely from the crisp editing of Paul Rubell and capable cinematography of Kees Van Oostrum, while one must acknowledge correctly descriptive scoring by John Addison. This is a film wherein dialogue delivery is critical and an oft trite screenplay is improved by the performances of Weld and Burstyn. The latter is frequently quite hilarious during the work's first half, giving it a cachet above its situation comedy pedigree, and while a viewer will readily recognize when sequences are about to give way for commercial breaks, there will also be an expectation that somehow everything will come out well in the end for all involved.
5 Reviews
An adorable, touching comedy
theeht28 September 2000
Tuesday Weld and Ellen Burstyn are at their best in this very well made and likeable mix of light comedy and drama. Tuesday is the gorgeous older women who comes into Patrick Cassidy's life, upsetting Mama Ellen. Eli wallach offers fun support, in this adult comedy you'll love.
Something very special...
moonspinner556 May 2002
A fresh, buoyant made-for-TV comedy-drama about a rattled woman trying to cope with the fact her 20-ish son is dating a woman just about her age. Performances by Ellen Burstyn and Tuesday Weld are joyful, and Eli Wallach is a real stitch as Burstyn's wily old father. Even Patrick Cassidy as Ellen's son is just about perfect (no drippy, youthful overtures from him, and that's as it should be). Burstyn, sarcastic without being caustic, really had me laughing in places; she's so good in her dramas that one is at first stunned to see her in such bright, loose surroundings. A ratings winner, and a bouquet to family and romance.
For Weld Alone
grahamclarke16 November 2003
As those unimaginatively styled credits reminiscent of hundreds of made for television movies begin to roll, your impulse may be to reach for the stop button. However, give this one a chance, not because it's especially clever or exceptionally well written, but simply for the terrific performances by Ellen Burstyn and Tuesday Weld, as well as Eli Wallach in a supporting role. In lesser hands, this would have been yet another forgettable romantic comedy.
Glenn Jordan, the veteran director of many television movies, must be a man of persuasive powers. The material, while far from brilliant, does not fall to the level that many other movies of this genre so often do. Despite this, the actors all seem to be enjoying their roles immensely.
Ellen Burstyn, whose trademark is that of playing emotionally overwrought characters, displays genuine comic flair as the middle aged widow whose life becomes derailed by her overly protected son's affair with a woman just a few years younger than herself. Tuesday Weld, still stunning at age 42 makes this plot totally plausible.
Hollywood has its fair share of intelligent actresses and obviously there's never been a shortage of those who have made it to the screen by virtue of their looks. But there are so few who possess both these qualities. This rare combination should have placed Weld in the top ranks of screen actresses with roles suited to her talents. This of course, did not happen.
Her screen performances have been comprised of consistently subtle and nuanced portrayals, despite the often mediocre projects she has been involved in. There are few actresses who listen as well as her. Watching her listening to her partner's dialog one senses what's going on in her mind. It's an acting skill few have mastered.
It's somewhat sad that her talents found expression in light weight material such as "Something in Common" but Weld alone makes this one worthwhile.
Glenn Jordan, the veteran director of many television movies, must be a man of persuasive powers. The material, while far from brilliant, does not fall to the level that many other movies of this genre so often do. Despite this, the actors all seem to be enjoying their roles immensely.
Ellen Burstyn, whose trademark is that of playing emotionally overwrought characters, displays genuine comic flair as the middle aged widow whose life becomes derailed by her overly protected son's affair with a woman just a few years younger than herself. Tuesday Weld, still stunning at age 42 makes this plot totally plausible.
Hollywood has its fair share of intelligent actresses and obviously there's never been a shortage of those who have made it to the screen by virtue of their looks. But there are so few who possess both these qualities. This rare combination should have placed Weld in the top ranks of screen actresses with roles suited to her talents. This of course, did not happen.
Her screen performances have been comprised of consistently subtle and nuanced portrayals, despite the often mediocre projects she has been involved in. There are few actresses who listen as well as her. Watching her listening to her partner's dialog one senses what's going on in her mind. It's an acting skill few have mastered.
It's somewhat sad that her talents found expression in light weight material such as "Something in Common" but Weld alone makes this one worthwhile.
ANSWERS Concerning The Truth
mrcrystal-4723429 November 2020
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