Cast: Mary Stuart Masterson, Robert Sean Leonard, Beau Bridges, Stockard Channing, Cybill Shepherd, Ron Silver
Director: Arthur Hiller
Producer: Thomas Baer
Screenplay: Janet Kovalcik
Cinematography: Victor J. Kemper
Music: Henry Mancini
U.S. Distributor: Orion Pictures
Three couples, all having marriage problems, meet and become friends. There's Nina (Mary Stuart Masterson) and Chuck (Robert Sean Leonard), a young couple who have just moved into a New York apartment. She's a school psychologist and he's an investment banker who has run afoul of the law. Then there's John (Beau Bridges) and Iris (Stockard Channing), who have been married for years and have two children. Products of the sixties, both are having varying degrees of trouble coping with the changes in attitude that have occurred during the eighties and nineties. Finally, there's Claire (Cybill Shepherd) and Leo (Ron Silver), whose relationship works more on the physical than emotional level. Their marriage is troubled by Claire's inability to relate to Leo's young daughter.
Married to It is an exercise in mediocrity. The plot is a series of contrivances lumped together then truncated with pat endings. There's nothing inventive or even slightly original here. Most of the "deep" subjects tackled by the film have been touched on more expertly and less cloyingly than in Married to It. Superficially, in the way this movie attempts to tie together the different lifestyles of its main characters, this recalls Grand Canyon. Don't be fooled, though. This has none of the power of Lawrence Kasdan's 1991 film.
The comedy is lame. There are a few funny moments, but most of the jokes are clunkers. The drama isn't any more solid. Married to It has no concept of what it takes to draw an audience into a film. The sense of character is terrible. None of the six principles is particularly engaging, and every relationship in the movie is plagued by cliche after cliche. There's no chemistry, and if you can't care about the characters, what's the motivation to get involved?
There's a feeble attempt at social commentary. While the subject -- the often-devastating effect of divorce on young children -- is important, its handling is so inept that it ends up being a forgettable throw-in. Not helping matters is the offhand way in which this entire element of the plot is routinely dispatched.
Of the actors, Mary Stuart Masterson turns in the most feeling performance. Although clearly inferior to her work in Fried Green Tomatoes (which was her next project after this one), she infuses Nina with what can best be described as an "innocent toughness". Of the other principles, only Stockard Channing and Ron Silver do a remotely reasonable job. Robert Sean Leonard seems lost half the time, Beau Bridges sleepwalks through his part, and Cybill Shepherd shows that she's apparently lost whatever talent she once possessed.
Nothing in Married to It is effective. There are problems with the script, the actors, and the direction. This dreary, uninspired production is far too bland for anyone to actively hate. So, while this film might function as a sleep tonic, it's entertainment value is feeble.
© 1993 James Berardinelli