Themes: Age Disparity Romance, Infidelity, Foibles of Marriage
Main Cast: Gene Wilder, Christine Lahti, Mary Stuart Masterson, Robert Prosky, Anne Jackson, Stephen Tobolowsky
Release Year: 1990
Country: US
Run Time: 107 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
The once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between star Gene Wilder and director Leonard Nimoy resulted in the charmingly haphazard and anachronistic Funny About Love. Wilder plays political cartoonist Duffy Bergman, who falls in love with much-younger Meg (Christine Lahti) during a book-signing session. Once married, the old "clash of careers" bugaboo arises: Meg wants to continue working as a chef in a fancy New York restaurant, while Duffy would prefer that she think about starting a family. When it seems as though Meg may be incapable of bearing children, the self-involved Duffy impregnates earthy college coed Daphne (Mary Stuart Masterson). How a happy ending can grow from this complication is a puzzlement. Funny About Love was based--extremely loosely--on a speech once delivered by Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Greene. The laughs tend to be sporadic, though Stephen Toblowsky scores high marks as a jocular fertility doctor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Susan Ruttan - Claire Raskin; Jean de Baer - Vivian; David Margulies - Dr. Benjamin; Michael Bofshever - Steve; Lorenzo Caccialanza - Sotto Voce Maitre d'; Al Cerullo - Helicopter Pilot; Paul Collins - Bill Hatcher; Patrick Ewing - Himself; Robert Hy Gorman - Roger; Sherlynn Hicks - Waitress; Anne Lange - Bobbie; David Larson - Elevator Operator; Paul L.Q. Lee - Moving Man; Wendie Malick - Nurse Nancy; Elizabeth Morehead - Kathryn; Andrew Hill Newman - Jerry; Dave Nicolson - Elevator Operator; Regis Philbin - Himself; Justin Ross - Waiter; Kevin Shaw - Waiter; Lewis J. Stadlen - Avi; Celeste Yarnall - Delta Gamma; Ramy Zada - Ellis Hayden; Joe Zaloom - Cappucino Vendor; Michael Snyder - Video Camera Assistant; Kathryn Miller - Delta Gamma; Robert T. Shannon - Redhead; Amanda Mackey-Johnson; Courtney Barilla - Alexandra; Jeannette Kerner - Delta Gamma; Freda Foh Shen - Nurse
Credit
Robert Guerra - Art Director, Nathan Haas - Art Director, Martin Huberty - Associate Producer, Amanda Mackey-Johnson - Casting, Albert Wolsky - Costume Designer, Leonard Nimoy - Director, Peter E. Berger - Editor, Miles Goodman - Composer (Music Score), Lynn M. Morgan - Production Designer, Stephen Storer - Production Designer, Fred Murphy - Cinematographer, Jon Avnet - Producer, Jordan Kerner - Producer, Gregory J. Barnett - Stunts, Roger Paradiso - Unit Production Manager, David Frankel - Screenwriter, Norman Steinberg - Screenwriter, Bob Greene - Book Author
New York cartoonist Duffy Bergman (Gene Wilder) meets and eventually marries gourmet chef Meg Lloyd (Christine Lahti). Meg decides she wants to have a baby, and Duffy eventually agrees. After unsuccesfully trying to have a baby, they eventually separate. Later, Duffy speaks at a Delta Gamma sorority convention and explains that the Delta Gamma girls have always been his dream girls -- his Love Goddesses. There he meets Daphne Delillo (Mary Stuart Masterson). When Daphne moves to New York to work as a network sports reporter, their attraction develops into a relationship. He must decide which woman is more important to him.
Infertility, divorce and loneliness shape the rambling plot, but they somehow do little to make the film substantial...... Once the film settles down to follow Duffy and Meg in their eager efforts to conceive a baby, it develops at least some recognizable emotional content.[2]
”
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times had nothing but disdain for the film, giving it only a half of a star rating out of the four stars scale he uses.
“
Funny About Love" provides an opportunity to spend 101 minutes in the presence of the most cloying, inane and annoying dialogue I've heard in many a moon, punctuated only by occasional lapses into startling bad manners.[3]
