Movies:
Starting Over
DVD Release
- Release Date: 2005
- Widescreen version enhanced for 16:9 TV's
- Dolby Digital: English mono
- cc
- English subtitles
- Rating:
- Genre: Romance
- Movie Type: Romantic Comedy
- Themes: Starting Over, Breakups and Divorces, Love Triangles
- Director: Alan J. Pakula
- Main Cast: Burt Reynolds, Jill Clayburgh, Candice Bergen, Charles Durning, Frances Sternhagen
- Release Year: 1979
- Country: US
- Run Time: 106 minutes
- MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Scripted by James L. Brooks from Dan Wakefield's novel, Alan J. Pakula's romantic comedy follows the tribulations of a freshly divorced man as he looks for love with a wary single woman. Phil Potter (Burt Reynolds sans mustache) can't quite believe it when his aspiring songbird wife Jessica (Candice Bergen) kicks him out to realize her career dreams, but the added revelation of her adultery speeds him out the door by choice. Relocating to Boston, Phil starts to settle in with the help of his psychiatrist brother Mickey (Charles Durning), joining a divorced men's therapy group. Phil really begins to feel better when Mickey and his wife Marva (Frances Sternhagen) set him up with her friend Marilyn (Jill Clayburgh), a preschool teacher who has had her share of grief from newly single men. Phil wins her over and even convinces her to move in, but an unexpected visit from a regretful, saucily clad Jessica, and an anxiety attack over buying a couch, threaten to end Phil's new life with Marilyn before it has a chance to start. Starting Over offers a ruefully comic look at how the decade's rising divorce rate did not mean fun and games for all the new bachelors; Brooks' movie debut after a sparkling career in 1970s TV with The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi, it was also proof that top '70s star Reynolds could be more than just a good 'ol boy. Still, while the three leads were all praised for their work, only Clayburgh and Bergen received Oscar nominations. Starting Over was a moderate hit, and its humorous yet down-to-earth view of single life and its discontents reassured unattached thirtysomethings that, even though it may not be easy, everything could still turn out fine in modern romance. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie GuideReview
Scripted by James L. Brooks, after a sparkling career in 1970s TV with The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi, Alan J. Pakula's Starting Over (1979) took on contemporary issues of divorce and courtship through the tribulations of a freshly divorced man looking for love with a wary single woman. Starting Over's ruefully comic realization that the rising divorce rate did not mean fun and games for all the new bachelors was also proof that top '70s star Burt Reynolds could be more than just a good ol' boy. Moving from Candice Bergen's Me Decade narcissist to Jill Clayburgh's relationship-scarred teacher, the mustache-less Reynolds is a humorously low-key mess of male anxiety and indecision who maintains his charm despite his floundering. While the three leads were all praised for their work, only Clayburgh and Bergen received an Oscar nomination. Starting Over's down-to-earth view of single life and its discontents reassured unattached thirtysomethings that romance was still possible in the post-sexual-revolution age of divorce and dating, and it was a moderate hit for former paranoia maestro Pakula. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie GuideCast
- Burt Reynolds - Phil Potter
- Jill Clayburgh - Marilyn Holmberg
- Candice Bergen - Jessica Potter
- Charles Durning - Michael "Mickey" Potter
- Frances Sternhagen - Marva Potter
Austin Pendleton - Paul; MacIntyre Dixon - Dan Ryan; Jay O. Sanders - Larry; Richard Whiting - Everett; Sturgis Warner - John Morganson; Kevin Bacon - Husband (Young Couple); Anne de Salvo - Wife; Russell Horton - Man #2; Charles Kimbrough - Salesman; Tara King - Checkout Girl; Marvin Lichterman - Husband; Mort Marshall - Room Service Waiter; Ian Martin - Doorman; Gilmer McCormick - Stephanie; Sol Schwade - Man in Market; Wallace Shawn - Workshop Member; Lisa Sloan - Mother of Kid; Helen Stenborg - Older Woman; A.C. Weary - Athletic Father; Alfie Wise - Workshop Member; Mary Catherine Wright; Mary Kay Place - Marie; Tony Romano - Boston Man; Daniel Stern - Student 2; Michael Kaufman - Clerk; Simon McQueen - Bloomingdale's Crowd; Nadine Darling; Kitty Muldoon; John Murray - Bloomingdale's Couple
