Main Cast: Don Johnson, Susan Sarandon, Jeff Daniels, Elizabeth Perkins, Kate Reid
Release Year: 1988
Country: US
Run Time: 95 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
This gentle comedy drama explores aspects of love and relationships by featuring two parallel tales, both occurring in the same Vermont town. In one, the boredom faced by a married pair of high-school sweethearts leads to the destruction of their marriage. At the same time, their closest friend finally finds the love of his life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Review
Sweet Hearts Dance is a cute little romantic comedy that will entertain those in the mood for an unchallenging flick and frustrate those who want a little more meat to their movies. Dance is a series of little vignettes about love and relationships and how time can affect the two; its lightness is part of its charm, but it also causes it to feel like a bit of a cheat. Many viewers will feel unfulfilled that Dance never gets deeper into its subject or its characters. While some of the dialogue is good and observational, writer Ernest Thompson also settles for bromides and easy outs. Robert Greenwald's direction is in keeping with the writing, which doesn't help those who want a little more substance; it gets the job done very neatly, but no more. Fortunately, Dance has a very winning cast. Susan Sarandon does wonders with the role of Sandra, and Elizabeth Perkins sparkles as the new girl in town. Don Johnson, in the crucial role of Wiley is quite good, natural, and likeable without being cloying. And Jeff Daniels is utterly charming as the late bloomer. The cast can't make Sweet Hearts Dance great, but they make it quite palatable. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Justin Henry - Kyle Boon; Holly Marie Combs - Debs Boon; Heather Coleman - BJ Boon; Al Cerullo - Helicopter Pilot; Lanie Conklin - Darielle Johnson; Laurie Corbin - Claire Norton; Stephen Stabler - Wayne Rodemeyer; Matthew Wohl - Dick Merezini; Austin Bowen - Late Hours; Mark Brooks - Tom Sechrist; Meghan A. Brooks - Mouse; Kathleen Coane - Throbulator; Heather Driscoll - Sherry Rooney; Seth Feeley - Teenager; Anna Groskin - Student; Henry Haselton - Buzzy Barker; Jerry Highter - Throbulator; Sinclair Hodge - Late Hours; Jack Hughes - Rawson Mason; Samuel Kaufman - Teenager; Letitia Leahy - Eunice Wimert; Todd Ludy - Teenager; Mary Carol Maganzini - Lois Clarent; Jerrilyn Miller - Ellen Becker; Frits Momsen - Joe Canecki; Stephen Robert Moorhead - Robby Canecki; Jonathan Murad - Teenager; Patrick Rogers - Late Hours; Paul Schnabel - Policeman; Tyrone Shaw - Throbulator; Juan Smith - Late Hours; Cecil Xavier - Late Hours; Jack F. McDonald - Peter Barrett
Credit
Bruce S. Pustin - Associate Producer, Lora Kennedy - Casting, Bobbie Read - Costume Designer, Allan Nicholls - First Assistant Director, Robert Greenwald - Director, Robert Florio - Editor, Janet Bartels - Editor, Robert Greenwald - Executive Producer, Richard Gibbs - Composer (Music Score), Debbie Gold - Composer (Music Score), Debbie Gold - Musical Direction/Supervision, Richard Gibbs - Songwriter, Allan A. Apone - Makeup, Allen Weisinger - Makeup, James Allen - Production Designer, Tak Fujimoto - Cinematographer, Robert Greenwald - Producer, Jeffrey Lurie - Producer, Lauren C. Weissman - Producer, R. Lynn Smart - Set Designer, Walter Wayne Walser - Special Effects, Mark Ulano - Sound/Sound Designer, Bobby Foxworth - Stunts, Gary Hymes - Stunts, Ernest Thompson - Screenwriter
It's Halloween, and New England contractor Wiley Boon, married to his high school sweetheart Sandra and the father of three children, feels smothered after fifteen years of the same routine and is facing a midlife crisis. His best friend, local school board president Sam Manners, is on the verge of starting a relationship with Adie Nims, a recent transplant from Florida and the new teacher at the high school. During Thanksgiving dinner, Wiley and Sandra have a minor disagreement that prompts him to leave his family and move into a mobile home to sort through his feelings of emotional unrest. Using subsequent holidays as a background, the film focuses on both their efforts to recapture the magic of their early years together and reconcile and Sam and Adie's growing commitment to each other.
Janet Maslin of the New York Times thought "the rapport between the film's four principals is so well established that its romantic quadrille about the various ups and downs of two humorously contrasting couples really does come to life." She added, "Sweet Hearts Dance . . . approaches love as a series of fits and starts. It approaches narrative in much the same way, which would be more of a problem if the film were not so enjoyably loose-jointed anyhow . . . [It] tends to drift, but it has good humor and an easygoing appeal, not to mention a thoroughly attractive cast." [2]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times rated the film two out of four stars. He felt the screenplay "seems to meander in whatever direction the filmmakers thought they could find an inspiration" but added, "And yet the film is not without merit. All of the performances are interesting, and although I was not surprised that three of the four leads were good, I was surprised at how effective Don Johnson was in his role. It's the best thing he's done, and shows he can do good things." He concluded, "There were times when I thought I'd seen this movie before - maybe in The Four Seasons by Alan Alda or, for that matter, in any film by Alda. Made by sensitive, sophisticated middle-age men about sensitive middle-age men who are a little less sophisticated, the movie drips with nostalgia, but sometimes what everybody seems to want isn't love, but a gift certificate at L.L. Bean. The lifestyle itself threatens to upstage the drama, and as the wholesome New Englanders go about their wholesome New England pastimes, even suffering begins to look picturesque." [3]
Rita Kempley of the Washington Post described the film as "thirtysomething in needlepoint" and commented, "With its comfortable characters and small-town setting, it's as homey as hash - almost as if the director just threw it together like a housewife with unexpected company. It's not a grand movie, but an enjoyable midlife comedy that features Don Johnson in a breakthrough performance." [4]
