Forget Paris (1995)

Mickey Gordon is a basketball referee who travels to France to bury his father. Ellen Andrews is an American living in Paris who works for the airline he flies on. They meet and fall in ... See full summary »

Director:

Billy Crystal

Writers:

Billy Crystal, Lowell Ganz,

Stars:

Billy Crystal, Debra Winger, Joe Mantegna

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Billy Crystal	...	Mickey Gordon
Debra Winger	...	Ellen Andrews Gordon
Joe Mantegna	...	Andy
Cynthia Stevenson	...	Liz
Richard Masur	...	Craig
Julie Kavner	...	Lucy
William Hickey	...	Arthur
Robert Costanzo	...	Waiter
John Spencer	...	Jack
Tom Wright	...	Tommy
Cathy Moriarty	...	Lois
Johnny Williams	...	Lou
Marv Albert	...	Marv Albert
Bill Walton	...	Bill Walton
Charles Barkley	...	Himself

Storyline

Mickey Gordon is a basketball referee who travels to France to bury his father. Ellen Andrews is an American living in Paris who works for the airline he flies on. They meet and fall in love, but their relationship goes through many difficult patches. The story is told in flashback by their friends at a restaurant waiting for them to arrive.

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Plot Keywords:

basketball | referee | flashback | restaurant | pigeon | 

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Taglines:

A comedy about love... after marriage.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for language, including some sex-related dialogue

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 May 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Olvídate de París

Filming Locations:

Market Square Arena - 300 E. Market Street, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$33,194,500 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Castle Rock Entertainment, Face Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Debra Winger did not have another leading role after appearing in this film until 2001.

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Goofs

In the Pistons/Lakers game when Mickey has his meltdown, the court is clearly the Phoenix Suns' court. The floor is purple instead of the Pistons' blue, and you can see the word America of "America West Arena" when he throws out Isiah Thomas.

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Quotes

Mickey: I am very impressed, you've got little kids over here, 2-3 years old, and they're already speaking French.

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Crazy Credits

The mannequin "SafetyMan" is credited as being played by "Himself"

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Connections

Referenced in Hannah Mantegna (2010)

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Soundtracks

"School Days"
Written by Gus Edwards and Will D. Cobb

User Reviews

It's very clear, their love is here to stay

"Forget Paris" is a feel-good romantic comedy about the on again off again relationship between Mickey (Billy Crystal, who also directed, produced and was one of the writers), an NBA referee, and Ellen (Debra Winger), a customer relations trouble shooter for an airline.

Friends of sports writer Andy (Joe Mantegna) are gathering at a restaurant to be introduced to Liz (Cynthia Stevenson) before their wedding. Liz comments that how she and Andy met must be the oddest ever (a fax had one digit off in the fax number and went to Andy by mistake). Andy says no, how Mickey met Ellen is the weirdest. They met because she helped him bury his father. That starts the friends telling the story of Mickey and Ellen.

Some critics consider this way of telling the story and the plot stale and schmaltzy; but it is so well done that I could care less.

The film genre is romantic comedy; this film's strength is the comedy part of that term. I could give examples but comedy is best when the punchline (or its visual equivalent) is unexpected. Let me just say that one of my favorite bits starts with the focus on an organist going through the motions of preparing to play serious music.

Billy Crystal is known to be a serious basketball fan and in part the film is like a documentary about refereeing NBA games, with a huge number of basketball stars playing themselves. I was bemused at the end of the credits when the standard disclaimer came up saying that all the characters and names in the film were fictitious. Not hardly in this film.

I should mention that Cynthia Stevenson's hysterically tearful performance as Liz listening to Mickey's and Ellen's highs and lows was great.

I also loved the sound track. Ella Fitzgerald singing "April in Paris" is so great; also, Billy Holiday doing the opening "Our Love Is Here To Stay." David Sanborn's saxophone version of the "Star Spangled Banner" is also particularly great.

My one quibble is that I found Debra Winger's voice very sexy in 1982's "Officer and a Gentleman" and she didn't sound the same in 1995's "Forget Paris." I probably don't sound the same as I did 13 years ago either.