Themes: Serendipity, Midlife Crises, Looking For Love
Main Cast: Steve Martin, Victoria Tennant, Richard E. Grant, Marilu Henner, Sarah Jessica Parker
Release Year: 1991
Country: US
Run Time: 98 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Steve Martin wrote and stars in this look at the promise and dreamtime of Los Angeles culture. Martin stars as Harris K. Telemacher, a light-hearted television weatherman who does wacky comedy in lieu of reports since, being in L.A., he has very little weather to report. He spends his time roller-skating through museums and spending time with California's beautiful people. But Telemacher is fired and discovers that his girlfriend Trudi (Marilu Henner) is having an affair. He walks away from the relationship and re-evaluates his life, getting advice from a friendly electronic highway road sign. The sign suggests that he call SanDeE (Sarah Jessica Parker), a sprightly and attractive Valley Girl he met in a clothing store. With SanDeE he experiences a liberating and carefree spirit. But Telemacher comes to realize that he has actually fallen in love with Sara (Victoria Tennant), a tuba-playing British journalist who is in California to do a feature on Los Angeles lifestyles. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Review
It's ironic that comedian, writer, and actor Steve Martin became best known for a brand of goofy, zany, physical humor replete with spoofs of low-I.Q. simpletons. Since the late '80s, he's been busily creating stage two of his career marked by the classy, erudite, intellectual, and satirical where before he was base, broad, and low-brow. The original Martin was a lot of fun with an arrow through his head or dressed like King Tut, but his later work is his best stuff. It includes Roxanne (1987), A Simple Twist of Fate (1994), Bowfinger (2000), his plays and essay collections, and supporting roles in high-class fare such as Grand Canyon (1991), The Spanish Prisoner (1997), and Joe Gould's Secret (2000). This comedy, which skewers the airy, weightless culture of Los Angeles with wicked, fiendish glee, while at the same time joyfully embracing such elements as New Age music and the city's meteorological perfection, is one such example of Martin's "stage two" best. Whether he's skating through the L.A. County Museum of Art or sending up the town's insatiable taste for customized coffee (pre-Starbucks, no less), Martin's perception is keen, his poisoned pen sharp, and his sense of the sublimely ridiculous acute as ever. If a handful of elements in L.A. Story (1991) are dated (freeway shootings, for one example), it's only because his has transformed into a keenly observed, timely comedy. Richly rewarding and enormous fun, it's one of a great artist's best films. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Susan Forristal - Ariel; Kevin Pollak - Frank Swan; Sam McMurray - Morris Frost; Andrew Amador - Male News Reporter; Cheryl Baker - Changing Room Woman; Scott Bakula; Mary R. Boss - Old Woman; Samantha Caulfield - Sheila; Chevy Chase - Patron in Restaurant; Eddie de Harp - Maitre d' at Brunch; Dennis Dragon - Crook; Pierre Epstein - Chef; Frances Fisher - June; Jaime Gomez - Tod PA; Gail Grate - Female News Reporter; Woody Harrelson; Tommy Hinkley - Ted; Iman - Cynthia; Scott Johnston - Co-Pilot; Mary Kohnert; Robert Lind - Chainsaw Juggler; Aaron Lustig - Boring Speaker; Wesley Mann - Gas Station Attendant; Tony Marsico - Hard Rock Patron; Larry Miller - Tom; Burt Nacke - Cameraman; Mary Pederson - Airline Ticket Agent; George Plimpton - Straight Weatherman; David G. Price - Pilot; M.C. Shan - Rap Waiter at l'Idiot; Thornton Simmons - Man; Richard Stahl - Bank Executive; Mark Steen - Tod PA; Matt Stetson - Spokesmodel Teacher; Patrick Stewart - Maitre d'at l'Idiot; Amy Wallace - Tod PA; Tim Winters - Floss Waiter at l'Idiot; Rick Moranis - Gravedigger; Wesley Thompson - Jesse; Mindy Marin; Anna Crawford - Sharon; Julianna McCarthy - Woman
Credit
Charles William Breen - Art Director, Mindy Marin - Casting, Rudy Dillon - Costume Designer, Albert M. Shapiro - First Assistant Director, Mick Jackson - Director, Richard A. Harris - Editor, Mario Kassar - Executive Producer, Steve Martin - Executive Producer, Enya - Composer (Music Score), Peter R. Melnick - Composer (Music Score), Lawrence Miller - Production Designer, Andrew Dunn - Cinematographer, Chris Coles - Production Manager, Daniel Melnick - Producer, Michael Rachmil - Producer, Chris A. Butler - Set Designer, Jim Webb - Sound/Sound Designer, Steve Martin - Screenwriter
L.A. Story is a 1991Americanromantic comedy filmdirected by Mick Jackson and written by Steve Martin, who also stars in the film. Set in Los Angeles, California, it tells the story of Harris K. Telemacher (Martin), an L.A. weatherman who falls in and out of love with the aid of a talking freeway sign which arguably speaks for the city itself. Over the years since its initial release, L. A. Story has acquired a strong underground and cult following. The movie is both a romantic comedy and a satire and celebration of life and L.A. culture. Three songs by Enya, "On Your Shore" and "Exile" (from Watermark) and "Epona" (from Enya), can be heard in this motion picture.
Steve Martin plays Harris K. Telemacher, a news meteorologist living in Los Angeles. He is in a meaningless relationship with his girlfiend Trudi, played by Marilu Henner, and wants to find some meaning and magic in his life. At a luncheon with a group of friends, he meets Sara, a journalist from London played by Victoria Tennant with whom he immediately becomes infatuated. Driving home that night, his car breaks down on the freeway and he pulls over into the shoulder, only to realize that a freeway traffic condition sign is displaying messages intended solely for him. The sign offers Harris cryptic advice on his love life throughout the movie. While he begins to fall for Sara, she feels she has a commitment to her ex-husband, Roland, played by Richard E. Grant, with whom she has tentatively pledged to reconcile. Afraid a relationship with Sara is impossible, Harris decides to go out with the ditzy blonde SanDeE*, a wannabe spokesmodel, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, whom he met at a clothing store. After the date with SanDeE*, Harris learns that Trudi has been cheating on him for three years with his agent; the revelation sets him free. He decides to pursue his love interest in Sara, but this is still complicated by his relationship with SanDeE* and by Sara's obligation to Roland. In the end he succeeds, with more help from the freeway sign.
There are also uncredited appearances from Chevy Chase, Woody Harrelson, Paula Abdul, Martin Lawrence, Rick Moranis and Terry Jones. In addition, John Lithgow and Scott Bakula filmed scenes - respectively as a movie agent and Harris's neighbour - but didn't appear in the final cut (although references to Lithgow's character remain in the freeway shootout and the 'California Cuisine' lunch scenes).
Reaction
It has a 94% rating of top critics on Rotten Tomatoes. L.A. Story was voted as the 20th best film set in Los Angeles in the last 25 years by a group of Los Angeles Times writers and editors with two criteria: "The movie had to communicate some inherent truth about the L.A. experience, and only one film per director was allowed on the list".[1]
