Main Cast: Billy Crystal, Debra Winger, Joe Mantegna, Cynthia Stevenson, Richard Masur
Release Year: 1995
Country: US
Run Time: 101 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Actor Billy Crystal co-wrote, directed, and starred in this romantic comedy. Forty-something couple Andy (Joe Mantegna) and Liz (Cynthia Stevenson) are about to be married, and as they gather with their friends for dinner not long before the wedding, they are told the story of their mutual friends Mickey (Billy Crystal) and Ellen (Debra Winger) as a cautionary tale of where a relationship can go wrong. Mickey is a top referee with the NBA who has traveled to Paris to bury his father, who wanted to be laid to rest with his Army buddies from World War II. The body is somehow lost in transit, and Mickey has an argument with Ellen, who works for an American airline in France. However, she likes his sense of humor, he is taken with her, and after a few days together in Paris, they decide to marry. However, once they return to Mickey's home in the United States, things get complicated; she's not so sure that she cares for his bachelor apartment ("a shrine to watching ESPN"), or juggling her career against his, while both have problems with their respective families. Several major basketball stars and sports figures appear in Forget Paris as themselves, including Charles Barkley, Bill Walton, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Marv Albert. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
It's always interesting to see unfamiliar professions and their peculiar demands captured on film, and Billy Crystal taps into this keenly in Forget Paris, creating a curious audience for the behind-the-scenes life of an NBA referee. Some might consider the job the worst of both worlds: the horrible travel schedule of a professional athlete with none of the glory, and instead of glory, actual ill will from both players and fans who disagree with his calls. But the job and the cameos from real NBA players, which punched up the trailer, are mostly a surface gimmick, a way in for Crystal to explore the Woody Allen-like subject matter that truly interests him: the semi-functional relationships of aging New Yorkers, which get articulately talked out in a succession of alternately funny and heartbreaking scenes. It's not up to the standards of When Harry Met Sally..., but Crystal's directorial debut, which he also co-wrote, shows that he paid attention when he starred in wistful romantic comedies like this in the past. There are some zany scenes of pure comedy, but also a number that dwell on the sadness of falling in love under impractical circumstances. Anyone who has experienced an intense romantic interlude like the one Crystal and Debra Winger spend in Paris will sympathize, as the characters desperately try to forge a lasting relationship from a dizzy soup of memories. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Julie Kavner - Lucy; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - Himself; Marvin Albert - Himself; Charles Barkley - Himself; E.E. Bell - Angry Fan; Andre Rosey Brown - Huge Bodyguard; Bert Copello - Airline Employee; Robert Costanzo - Waiter; Sam Crawford - Basketball Player; Patrick Ewing - Himself; Richard Haje - Dangerous Man; Tim Halligan - Doctor; William Hickey - Arthur; Clint Howard - Exterminator; Gregory Paul Jackson - Airline Official; Bill Laimbeer - Himself; Rush Limbaugh - Rush Limbaugh; Nigel Miguel - Basketball Player; Cathy Moriarty - Lois; Ron Ross - Insolent Official; Dawan Scott - Basketball Player; John Spencer - Jack; David St. James - Airline Official; Reggie Theus - Basketball Player; Isiah Thomas - Himself; Bill Walton - Himself; Irving Wasserman - Man in Car; Spud Webb - Himself; David Sanborn - Himself; Tom Wright - Tommy; Bernard Brown - Basketball Player; Janette Caldwell - Andy's DAte; Kevin Johnson - Himself; Allan Kolman - French Waiter; Mike McGee - Basketball Player; Liz Sheridan - Woman in Car; Kevin Morris - Basketball Player; Anthony C. Hall - Basketball Player; Johnny Williams - Lou; Richard Assad - Suitcase Man; Jo Farkas - Angry Fan; Judyann Elder - Ivy; David Robinson - Himself; Ken Johnson - Angry Fan
Credit
William Cruse - Art Director, Pam Dixon - Casting, Debbie Allen - Choreography, Kelly Van Horn - Co-producer, Judy Ruskin - Costume Designer, David Hallinan - First Assistant Director, Billy Crystal - Director, Kent Beyda - Editor, Peter Schindler - Executive Producer, Marc Shaiman - Composer (Music Score), Gregory King - Musical Direction/Supervision, Marc Shaiman - Songwriter, Peter Montagna - Makeup, Robert La Bonge - Camera Operator, Terence Marsh - Production Designer, Don Burgess - Cinematographer, Billy Crystal - Producer, Roy Barnes - Set Designer, Michael Seirton - Set Designer, Jeff Wexler - Sound/Sound Designer, Billy Crystal - Screenwriter, Lowell Ganz - Screenwriter, Babaloo Mandel - Screenwriter
Forget Paris is a 1995 film produced, directed, co-written by and starring Billy Crystal as an NBA referee and Debra Winger as an independent working woman whose lives are interrupted by love and marriage.
Mickey Gordon (Billy Crystal) is an NBA referee living the single life, who loves to travel and have fun. He flies to Paris to bury his father, but is detained because his father's casket is missing upon arrival.
Ellen Andrews (Winger), an employee of American Airlines, assists Mickey in retrieving the lost casket. They fall in love in the streets of Paris, but are separated when Mickey has to go back to America after his leave of absence.
They return to the reality of their normal lives, but can not seem to forget Paris. They ultimately reunite and marry - but do not "live happily ever after" (at least, not immediately). They deal with common marriage issues such as: her father moving in with them, failed attempts at child conception, demanding job schedules, among others.
The film, told mostly in flashback by friends of the couple who gather at a restaurant, delves into the hardships of marriage and keeping the romance alive in a relationship.
Mickey also officiates a Los Angeles Laker-Detroit Piston game during Kareem Abdul Jabbar's final season. Having a "bad day," Mickey throws Kareem out of the game for no apparent reason, then does the same to Detroit Pistons star Isiah Thomas, and then the entire roster of both teams.
