Themes: Crumbling Marriages, Foibles of Marriage, Breakups and Divorces
Main Cast: Bruce Willis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tim Matheson, Rob Reiner, Rita Wilson, Paul Reiser
Release Year: 1999
Country: US
Run Time: 94 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer star in this romantic comedy as Ben and Katie Jordan, a couple who have been married for fifteen years. They have two great kids, a nice home, and a comfortable life, but somewhere down the line, the spark went out of their marriage, and they find that they don't really love each other anymore. With their relationship at a crossroads, Ben and Katie, two different people who have never felt more different, have to decide if they want to try to salvage their marriage, or if it's time to move on. The Story of Us was directed by Rob Reiner, and features Julie Hagerty, Tim Matheson, Paul Reiser, Tom Poston, Rita Wilson, and Jayne Meadows. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
The Story of Us may not be up to Rob Reiner's usual standards -- with his resume, that's asking a lot -- but it certainly did not deserve the vigorous critical lambasting that turned it into a punch line. Sarcastically referred to as When Harry Broke Up With Sally, it is indeed familiar territory for Reiner: a pseudo-philosophical examination of the endurance (or lack thereof) of relationships, which borrows the same talking-to-the-camera interview format that When Harry Met Sally used so charmingly -- though here, it can get pretty cloying. People probably didn't like this movie as much because it's not always charming -- and yes, Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer do yell at each other a lot. But isn't that the point in a movie about the dissolution of a marriage? Other than the usual literate dialogue Reiner works with, there's great effort to create a montage feeling that effectively sums up this couple's 15-year union, including entire wardrobes and haircuts that may only get two seconds of screen time. Not all the scenes are good -- one of the most embarrassing involves Willis blowing up at a four-star restaurant, spewing simplistic, displaced rage at his best friends (Reiner and Rita Wilson). But Willis and Pfeiffer develop the kind of chemistry that makes even the short scenes seem like snippets of a believably messy continuum. There are no new revelations about marriage in this movie, but as a case study, it's effective enough for a piece of minor pop psychology that alternates between smart and condescending commentary. The result is an underrated effort from a director who should have earned viewers' trust by now. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Christopher Burian-Mohr - Art Director, Francesco Chianese - Art Director, Gretchen Rau - Supervising Art Director, Jane Jenkins - Casting, Shay Cunliffe - Costume Designer, Frank Capra III - First Assistant Director, Rob Reiner - Director, Robert Leighton - Editor, Alan Edward Bell - Editor, Jeffrey Stott - Executive Producer, Frank Capra III - Executive Producer, Eric Clapton - Composer (Music Score), Marc Shaiman - Composer (Music Score), Eric Clapton - Songwriter, Michael Germain - Makeup, Lilly Kilvert - Production Designer, Michael Chapman - Cinematographer, Rob Reiner - Producer, Alan Zweibel - Producer, Jessie Nelson - Producer, Gretchen Rau - Set Designer, John Perry Goldsmith - Set Designer, Kathy Lucas - Set Designer, Robert Eber - Sound/Sound Designer, Jeffrey Stott - Unit Production Manager, Alan Zweibel - Screenwriter, Jessie Nelson - Screenwriter
The Story of Us is a 1999film directed by Rob Reiner and starring Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer as a married couple of 15 years. The film depicts their marriage through a series of non-linear flashbacks similar to Two for the Road. Also, the occasional "interview" breaks in the piece are very much in the same vein of another Rob Reiner, film When Harry Met Sally....
In the film a popular piece of music, "Classical Gas" by the musician Mason Williams, was credited to Eric Clapton.[2] There was some controversy over this.[citation needed] Other Mason Williams recordings have been mistaken for Clapton's,[citation needed] even to the point were people have mistaken "Classical Gas" to have actually been written by Clapton.[3]
