We'd rather not speculate over how much of Best Friends is autobiographical. We'll just note that this story of a male-female screenwriting team was written by real-life married scenarists Barry Levinson and Valerie Curtin. Lovers as well as collaborators, scriveners Richard Babson (Burt Reynolds) and Paula McCullen (Goldie Hawn) decide to make their union legal. Predictably enough, they discover that their relationship goes straight downhill after they say "I do." The stars are far less interesting than the supporting cast, including Jessica Tandy and Barnard Hughes as Hawn's parents, Audra Lindley and Keenan Wynn as Reynolds' folks, Ron Silver as an avaricious producer (no names, please!), and Richard Libertini as a Mexican justice of the peace. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Darker than it has any right to be, Barry Levinson and Valerie Curtin's semiautobiographical tale provides some genuine moments of inspiration for its usually unchallenged lead performers Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn, but ultimately, the film can't reconcile the gulf between its dramatic and comedic moments. Posing the same can-a-friendship-survive-a-relationship question that would later be answered with a resounding "yes" by the feel-good hit When Harry Met Sally, Best Friends is most interesting when it catches its characters in a state of comic self-delusion. Reynolds' sardonic sense of humor is put to good use in scenes involving the couple's extemporaneous marriage and their subsequent in-law encounters (featuring spry supporting turns from Jessica Tandy, Barnard Hughes, Keenan Wynn, and Audra Lindley). But when things get unremittingly ugly in the film's last third, the emotional and physical abuse seems to come out of nowhere, and what's meant as a bittersweet coda plays more like a smiley-face fastened atop a divorce agreement. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
Keenan Wynn - Tom Babson; Ron Silver - Larry Weisman; Richard Libertini - Jorge Medina; Helen Page Camp - Maid; Brian Corrigan - Waiter; David Cullinane - Waiter; Terrence Currier - Henry Spaulding; Noah Hathaway - Lyle Ballou; Jennifer Jewison - Skier; Rodney Kageyama - Meter Reader; Carol Locatell - Nellie Ballou; Mickey Martin - Robbie Batiou; Joan Pringle - Doria; Douglas Roberts - Stuart; Peggy Walton-Walker - Carol Brandon; Vincent J. Isaac - Cab Driver; Jimmy Lewis - Diner
Credit
Marci Liroff - Casting, Betsy Cox - Costume Designer, Barry Levinson - First Assistant Director, Win Phelps - First Assistant Director, Norman Jewison - Director, Don Zimmerman - Editor, Joe Wizan - Executive Producer, Michel Legrand - Composer (Music Score), Josan F. Russo - Production Designer, Jordan S. Cronenweth - Cinematographer, Norman Jewison - Producer, Patrick Palmer - Producer, Thomas Roysden - Set Designer, Valerie Curtin - Screenwriter, Nora Ephron - Screenwriter, Barry Levinson - Screenwriter, Mitch Markowitz - Screenwriter, Susan Rice - Screenwriter
Richard Babson and Paula McCullen are a couple of Hollywood screenwriters who have lived and worked together for a number of years. Richard would like to get married, but Paula doesn't feel the need.
Having just written a film script for producer Larry Weissman, the couple decides to get married without letting anyone else know. Paula can tell it is important to Richard, so she reluctantly agrees.
They are wed in a downtown Los Angeles marriage bureau by a man named Jorge Medina in barely understandable English. For a honeymoon trip, they travel cross-country by train to inform their parents back East about what they have just done.
The first stop is Buffalo, New York, where they are met in a winter snowstorm by Paula's parents. Eleanor and Tim McCullen are old-fashioned, so Paula informs Richard that they will need to sleep in separate beds. Richard isn't happy about being treated like a child, or about the frigid climate and the constantly open window.
From there they go to Virginia to visit Richard's parents, who reside in a giant high-rise condominium. No window is ever opened there, and Paula, feeling increasing panic attacks, is in dire need of some fresh air. She also accidentally overdoses on Valium and goes face-first into a salad at lunch.
The Babsons excitedly believe that Paula and Richard are engaged but devastated to learn that they are already married. They throw a party at a restaurant, where Paula is upset by the comments of guests.
She and Richard are barely on speaking terms when Larry Weissman shows up, desperate for pages of a script rewrite. Paula insists that they return home to California immediately, but once there, their personal and professional relationship has soured.
Larry locks them in a room, where the writers bicker and get no work done. Paula again demands fresh air until Richard breaks a window. When they finally talk it through, they are in agreement that getting married might not have been the best idea. They finish the rewrite and then walk off into the sunset, which turns out to be a Hollywood prop.
