The Story of Us (1999)

Ben and Katie Jordan are a married couple who go through hard times in fifteen years of marriage.

Director:

Rob Reiner

Writers:

Alan Zweibel, Jessie Nelson

Stars:

Bruce Willis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Colleen Rennison

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bruce Willis	...	Ben Jordan
Michelle Pfeiffer	...	Katie Jordan
Colleen Rennison	...	Erin Jordan at Ten
Jake Sandvig	...	Josh Jordan at Twelve
Casey Boersma	...	Josh Jordan at Two and a Half
Tim Matheson	...	Marty
Rob Reiner	...	Stan
Julie Hagerty	...	Liza
Rita Wilson	...	Rachel
Dylan Boersma	...	Josh Jordan at Three
Ken Lerner	...	Dr. Rifkin
Victor Raider-Wexler	...	Dr. Hopkins
Albert Hague	...	Dr. Siegler
Jayne Meadows	...	Dot
Tom Poston	...	Harry

Storyline

Ben and Katie married fifteen years ago and gifted with two children. They stay together but their hearts had separated long back. After the kids are send to summer camp both start living separately and eventually preparing to break news of their separation to the kids. But being alone in each one's own world makes them to think about the other. When the D-day comes Katie and Ben stick together for the good of their children.

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Plot Keywords:

husband wife relationship | marriage | summer camp | male rear nudity | four word title | 

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Taglines:

Can a marriage survive 15 years of marriage?

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and brief sexuality

Did You Know?

Trivia

Bruce Willis was going through his own divorce from Demi Moore at the time of filming.

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Goofs

When Katie and Ben are in the first restaurant, Katie is shown eating with a fork in her right hand and a knife placed between her two plates. In the reverse shot the knife is gone.

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Quotes

Katie: There are some hurts that you never completely get over. And you think, I don't know, that time will diminish their presence - an-an-and to a degree it does - but, ah... it still hurts. Because, well... hurt hurts.

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Connections

Referenced in The Critic: Cast Away, The Legend of Bagger Vance (2001)

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Soundtracks

Classical Gas
Written and Performed by Mason Williams
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc.
by Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

Sweet, sad and, um, that's it

This is a pretty film, often poignant, and a bit too close to the bone at times for my liking. Still, it carries you along quite nicely - making it's point that time grinds marriages down more often than affairs - and then sort of stops.

The leads were great: Willis was really good, Pfeiffer was fantastic (hey, i'm a fan, okay). But, the characters were tough to take. The self-pity was intercut with nice bits of comedy, but it felt like Reiner was cutting from a wake to a pratt-fall on occasions.

The final scenes, with Pfeiffer's frightening display of multi-emotional skill (at once excellent and utterly ghastly), betrayed the characters. Normality was implausibly resumed, and Pfeiffer came across as at fault for taking the whole film to get real, and Willis looked much relieved that she'd taken the sanity pill and he could quit trying to change himself.

And the end was a surprise. I thought there was going to be more: a deeper level of story. But it ended without a sense of closure.

Details

Official Sites:

Universal

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

15 October 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Story of Us

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,673,080, 17 October 1999

Gross USA:

$27,100,031

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$58,900,031

Company Credits

Production Co:

Castle Rock Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1