Cast: Bruce Willis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rob Reiner, Rita Wilson, Julie Hagerty, Tim Matheson, Paul Reiser
Director: Rob Reiner
Producers: Rob Reiner, Jessie Nelson, Alan Zweibel
Screenplay: Alan Zweibel & Jessie Nelson
Cinematography: Michael Chapman
Music: Eric Clapton with Marc Shaiman
U.S. Distributor: Universal Pictures
Call it When Harry Met Sally 15 Years Later. Rob Reiner, the director of such comedic hits as The Princess Bride and the 1989 Billy Crystal/Meg Ryan sleeper, has bounced back from his poorly received 1996 effort, Ghosts of Mississippi, to craft this situational comedy about two people falling out of love. The Story of Us illustrates what happens when the fissure of minor differences in a marriage widens into a seemingly unbridgeable chasm. Although peppered with occasional contrivances, the film is insightful and intelligent more often than not, and paints a convincing portrait of the disintegration of a family - until the final ten minutes, when Reiner cheats with an implausible ending.
Few couples make the trip to the altar with the belief that their liaison will end in divorce. Weddings are times of delirious happiness and boundless optimism, yet 50% of the unions that begin with such promise finish with a permanent legal severing of ties. In today's world, that's the way things go. Some marriages end because they were entered into with improper preparation or for the wrong reasons. Others end because initially compatible partners drift apart over the years. The Story of Us concentrates on the second case.
Wanting to please audiences, most movies focus on the upside of a romantic relationship - pre-marital bliss. For about 90% of Hollywood's romantic comedies, marriage (or some other form of permanent commitment) is the natural climax to the tale. The Story of Us picks up where those films stop. For about 90 minutes, we are witnesses to the erosion of a marriage. Two people who were once rapturously happy are currently involved in a contentious and unpleasant relationship. Now, the only thing louder than their arguments is the silence between them when they're not speaking. They still care for each other, but they are strangers, and only the presence of two children has kept them from calling it quits.
Ben and Katie Jordan (Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer) could be Harry and Sally after the magic is gone. He's a freespirit; she's anal. She thinks he's irresponsible; he believes she should be more spontaneous. She treats him like a child; he wishes she would get in contact with the childlike portion of her personality that is no longer there. They have become incompatible. Finally, after a year of increasingly loud and acrimonious quarrels, they decide to separate as a prelude to divorce. The hardest part is telling the kids. So, instead of getting it over with, they let their son and daughter go off to summer camp without knowing the truth. As those warm, childless days pass, they attempt to cope with their new distance. A despondent Ben spends time hanging out with his two best friends, one of whom is married (Rob Reiner) and one of whom is single (Paul Reiser). Meanwhile, Katie is consoled by her gal pals, Rachel (Rita Wilson) and Liza (Julie Hagerty), and begins flirting with a dentist (Tim Matheson).
There is no doubt that The Story of Us falls under the "chick flick" umbrella. It is manipulative, but at least the manipulation is skillful, rather than sloppy and overwrought. For the most part, the characters are well developed and easy to sympathize with. And, even though the material is serious, Reiner keeps the tone light. There are no villains here; everyone is essentially likable. The overall rhythm is similar to that of When Harry Met Sally. The dialogue, credited to Alan Zweibel & Jessie Nelson, crackles with wit and energy and offers some wonderful moments (such as when Rachel launches into a tirade about how men never replace the toilet paper roll). There are numerous discussions about the differences between men and women, some of which are philosophical and some of which are humorously randy.
While there are many things to appreciate about The Story of Us, there are problems as well. Too many of the arguments between Ben and Katie have a contrived feel. We can see them coming. While it's true that people fight about silly things in real life, rarely do they work so hard to twist each phrase into an intentional insult, and it's not this often that every minor slight is magnified into an incident of gargantuan proportions. Reiner also seems to have a problem with wringing convincing tears out of his actors. Three people (Pfeiffer, Willis, and Wilson) cry during the course of this movie, and none are believable. The director had a similar problem with Meg Ryan during a pivotal scene in When Harry Met Sally - in fact, Pfeiffer's tearful moment here bears a striking resemblance to that sequence. Finally, the conclusion of The Story of Us, while not unexpected, doesn't feel right. Maybe Reiner should have re-watched Annie Hall.
This is the third consecutive film in which Bruce Willis has waived his usual big money fee in order to try some real acting (the other two, for the record: The Sixth Sense and Breakfast of Champions). With The Story of Us on his resume, he can now claim to have been in both heavy-testosterone films (like Die Hard) and heavy-estrogen movies. Willis does a credible job, as does Pfeiffer, but both have been better. We believe in the characters, which is all that's really important for a movie like this. Reiner, Wilson, Reiser, and Hagerty are on hand to provide voices to speak the delicious dialogue, but their characters are not well rounded. Red Buttons, Jayne Meadows, Tom Poston, and Betty White have cameos as Ben and Katie's parents.
I like the structure employed by The Story of Us. It ricochets back and forth between people, places, and time periods (via frequent flashbacks). Without slowing down the story, this approach allows us to get a good feeling for the various stages of Ben and Katie's marriage. We see them "meet cute", say their vows, raise their children, then drift apart. As lightweight comedy/dramas go, this one doesn't cover much new ground, but it is mostly effective as it canvasses the familiar material. The Story of Us is flawed, but not seriously enough to curtail its ability to function as unpretentious entertainment.
© 1999 James Berardinelli