Themes: Starting Over, Breakups and Divorces, Love Triangles
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 Guide
Review
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 Guide
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
Credit
John Boxer - Costume Designer, Alex Hapsas - First Assistant Director, Alan J. Pakula - Director, Marion Rothman - Editor, Marvin Hamlisch - Composer (Music Score), Marvin Hamlisch - Songwriter, Carole Bayer Sager - Songwriter, Fred Schuler - Camera Operator, George Jenkins - Production Designer, Michael Molly - Production Designer, Sven Nykvist - Cinematographer, James L. Brooks - Producer, Alan J. Pakula - Producer, Doug Wick - Producer, Phil Smith - Set Designer, James J. Sabat - Sound/Sound Designer, James L. Brooks - Screenwriter, Dan Wakefield - Book Author
Phil Potter splits with his wife, Jessica. She wants to begin a singing and songwriting career and she also has been having an affair.
Phil moves from New York to Boston, where his brother Mickey and sister-in-law Marva live. Against his wishes, they set up Phil with a blind date, Marilyn Holmberg, a nursery-school teacher.
He begins a new life. Phil takes a part-time teaching job and attends a divorced-men workshop in a church basement, meeting lonely men like Paul and Larry whose situations are similar to his. Marilyn feels it's too soon following his breakup for Phil to begin a new relationship. He goes on a date with her friend Marie, a single mom who literally throws herself at him.
The longer he is apart from Marilyn, the more he wants to be with her. They become lovers and their relationship grows, although Phil seems prone to panic attacks. On the day Phil finally invites Marilyn to move in with him, Jessica unexpectedly turns up at his apartment. She looks fabulous and has become a great success as a singer, although she is decidedly off-key.
At a family Thanksgiving dinner, a phone call from Jessica comes at an inopportune time. Marilyn overhears him telling Jessie that he is dining with his family and "a friend." Marilyn's feelings are hurt and she knows their relationship is at an end.
Phil moves back to New York to be with Jessica again. But the more he is with her, the more he misses Marilyn. He returns to Boston only to find she is now dating a basketball player. Phil does everything he can, even disrupting a Boston Celtics practice, in an attempt to win her back.
