Best Friends

In reading the reviews here...what the heck are some of you thinking? A few of you are giving 9 and 10 ratings. And others 2's. In reality, this is a good movie. Not a great movie. But good. There are four parts to the movie. The first has Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn -- two screen writers -- living together, but not married. Burt wants marriage, however, and finally persuades Goldie to go through a humorous civil ceremony, and in return, she wants them to go back east to see their parents. Pleasant, funny. The next segment is visiting her parents in Buffalo...in the middle of the winter. Reminded me of why I am glad not to still be living along Lake Ontario in the winter! Jessie Tandy and Barnard Hughes...two classic character actors...are wonderful in this part of the story as parents who just a bit over the hill mentally. The third segment is visiting his parents in a huge condo development in Virginia. Here, Audry Lindley and Keenan Wynn are "okay" in their roles, slightly daffy in different ways. But it is here the tension really begins to build between the two newly marrieds, and the marriage begins to collapse. It's still a good segment. The fourth segment is back in Hollywood where they end their marriage and are planning to get divorced, yet they have to work together to finish the screenplay. This is where the film sort of falls apart. It's as if the real writers and director couldn't quite figure out how to get through the segment where they fight and then reconcile. This part of the film was a disaster. It's good to see Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn working together. I think they made the film work...except for that last segment. The rest of the cast varied from excellent (Tandy and Hughes), to good (Wynn and Lindley), to poor (Ron Silver as the studio executive). It's worth watching as a "good" romantic comedy. Ron Silver as Larry Weisman Jessica Tandy as Ellie McCullen Barnard Hughes as Tim McCullen Audra Lindley as Ann Babson Keenan Wynn as Tom Babson

A nice story, well acted and directed. Reynolds and Hawn at their best. Good range of emotions and quite believable. Interesting locations -- I don't recall a movie shot (at least in part) in Buffalo...

Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn play screenwriting partners, and longtime romantic partners, who decide to get married and then find that marriage is not the same as being "best friends." Written by Barry Levinson ("Diner" "The Natural" "Avalon") and Valerie Curtin (who co-wrote "...and justice for all" "Inside Moves" and "Unfaithfully Yours" with Levinson), based the story on their own lives as writing partners. The film was directed by Norman Jewison ("In the Heat of the Night" "Moonstruck" "Rollerball") and was shot by Jordan Cronenweth ("Blade Runner" "Stop Making Sense" "Peggy Sue Got Married"), along with music by Michel Legrand ("Summer of '42" "The Thomas Crown Affair"), so considering all of the talent behind the camera and in front of the camera, which also included Jessica Tandy, Keenan Wynn, Ron Silver, and Richard LIbertini, the film is somewhat of a disappointment. However, although the film is not as good as I would have hoped, the stars have a likable chemistry and have a fun Tracy/Hepburn type of relationship, where the male and female leads are presented as equals, which is rarely the case with romantic comedies. Watchable if you're fans of the two leads.

What is essentially a character study of two likeable people working behind the scenes in the movies holds up nearly 40 years later as a gentle reminder of how relationships used to be portrayed in the media. Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn are a successful screenwriting team who are personally involved but have avoided getting married, up until now. Their working relationship is so comfortable that when they are writing, they can basically finish each other's sentences. So when out of the blue they decide to take the plunge, it becomes time for each of them to meet the parents. Two of the great superstars of the 1970's and early 1980's make their only film appearance together, and while they wouldn't be my first romantic movie pair, they work together quite nicely. it is ironic that both Hawn and Reynolds are known for their off-screen relationships as much as their film careers, and I've always considered Hawn sort of a blonde sister to Reynolds' recent acts of the time, Sally Field. In fact, the role seems to have been written with Field in mind and retailored for Hawn's personality. Other than one scene where Reynolds gets rather brutal with Hawn after an argument, Reynolds plays a very gentle character although it is obvious that he is living in a man's mentality and in spite of how much Hawn tries to make him, he'll never be able to read her mind. So with the couple going on the road, first to meet Hawn's parents in wintery Buffalo (Jessica Tandy and Barnard Hughes) and later going to the South to meet Reynolds' parents (Audra Lindley and Keenan Wynn), their views of two different marital lives clouds their judgment and when they return to work, it seems the magic is gone. The four veteran actors practically steal the film from under their popular box-office stars with typical eccentricity that Hollywood writes for people over a certain age. Tandy complains openly that Hughes has lost an interest in sex while Hawn later find out just the opposite. Gregarious Lindley never stops taking pictures of everybody and everything, chattering up a storm, but never to the annoyance of her gruff but longtime faithful husband, the understated Wynn. Both Reynolds and Hawn are somewhat put off by their new in-laws who complain about not having had the opportunity to go to their wedding and by the time they are done with the older generation, the record of the music that had been playing for them for years seems to be skipping. This film is one that simply just ranks as nice, not memorable or very good, but one that will leave you hankering for more popcorn, give you a few laughs and possibly singing the theme song that opens and closes the film like many others of the time. This could have dealt with people in relationships working together in any profession and could even have been about Broadway writers. But being set at the actual Warner Brothers Studio for the opening and closing segment, you get to see some vintage posters and enlarged stills of popular contract players from their past. That adds to the nostalgia and pretty much up the rating for me because how can you rank a film so treasured in the beauty of Hollywood's past? How do I keep the music playing? Tuning in to sweet, romantic comedies like this that somehow make me feel better about the human condition on those rare moments when I pick the right one to watch.

Richard and Paula write movies together. In fact they also live together, are best friends and have a sexual relationship. Richard is clearly in love with Paula and makes his feeling known, to which she replies that she doesn't love him. Bizarrely enough, they get married and spend the majority of the movie on a road trip visiting both set of parents which takes its toll on the fledgling marriage. Though Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn have chemistry and make a pretty cute couple, I can't get over the fact that I don't buy the premise, Paula makes it clear she doesn't love Richard and even though she agrees to the marriage, their whole relationship feels shaky throughout. Another problem is that for a comedy, laughs are extremely rare, and only the wedding scene made me smile. A couple of years later, When Harry met Sally was made, and Best Friends is inferior to it on every level. The acting, the chemistry and dialogue are far better, so making that comparison, Best Friends falls rather flat on its nose. That's not to say it is a bad movie, just an average movie in a commonly made genre, and I guess that's why it is almost forgotten today.

Light, sweet and very beautiful! " Best Friends ", directed by the great, competent and veteran film director Norman Jewinson, is a romantic comedy that brings a lot of happiness and peace to the heart, a true masterpiece of a director in the peak of his creativity and talent, with two excellent stars. Burt Reynolds, just after having directed and starry the violent " Sharky's Machine ", decided to play in a lighter film and without exaggerated scenes,his performance surprises, Reynolds demonstrates, as he did in " Deliverance " and in " Boogie Nights ", that he is one of the most competent stars of Hollywood. The film has beautiful music, scenes of good taste that fill the eyes, dedicated and experts secondary actors (as Jessica Tandy and Ron Silver), a plot that teaches us many values that were forgotten so much time, such as the friendship and the love, and the search for happiness. When narrating the two best friends' story who decide to get married and the difficulty of the adaptation and of the commitment, Jewinson touched in very known themes by all of us, that with certainty identified with the protagonists... " Best Friends " is a very pretty comedy, above all! with an end loaded of hope and optimism , the work is a beautiful hymn to the life. It is the type of film that is not more done by Hollywood, " Best Friends " brings an encouragement breeze to all of us. Reynolds passes us, by every each glance, by every each smile, the happiness, the love and the will to live and take advantage of the life, even when everything seems to be against us... I don't still understand why the film didn't obtain an Oscar nomination for Burt Reynolds. As well as I don't understand the reason for what he did not won the Oscar for " Boogie Nights ". the history of Burt Reynolds's life confuses itself with the own history of Hollywood, he is part of the mythology, of this powerful industry's glam . It was the first (and the last) star to be the box office hit for five years in a roll! and this film, " Best Friends ", is a sample of all his charisma, of all his cynic and sweet charm... Watch that film, mainly if you feel sad, discouraged or defeated. Something will move inside of you! the film will teach that the world rotates, and that there is always a great turning waiting for us, there is always a second chance, there will always be a place for the happiness and for the peace! and nobody better than the great legend of Hollywood, Burt Reynolds, to demonstrate the certainty of this opinion, because he already tasted the redeeming success, the ostracism and he gave the performance of the century in the saga " Boogie Nights ", making the peaces with himself and with the success... Burt Reynolds makes all the difference! congratulations, Burt: you got the BEST OF MY LOVE (the name of the most exciting song from the film " Boogie Nights ")! and " Best Friends ", as any film of your career, is special like you!

Best Friends is one of my very favorite films that deals with love and relationships. Goldie Hawn and Burt Reynolds are the 'perfect' "Hollywood" couple in this serio-comic look at the never ending question: Do you marry your best friend, and if so, will they stay your best friend?" Paula (played by Hawn) and Richard (played by Reynolds) are two of Hollywood's sought after screenwriters and they work very well together. After 3 years, Richard decides that he wants to marry his live-in Paula, but Paula has been hesitant because "marriage changes everything". To Paula, everything is fine as is. How interesting that it's the man that wants a long term commitment, and the woman doesn't! After convincing, Paula marries Richard, but in the worst way possible - she chooses a "walk in chapel" out of the phone book and the ceremony is done barely in English. Next, the biggest problem facing the newlyweds is that neither has seen or spent any time with each others parents, and they decide to visit each of them and spring the news that they got married in person. They trek on a "cross country journey" in true a Hollywood Screenwriters fantasy - via a cramped, small train to visit Paula's parent's first in Buffalo and then Richard's in Virginia. The parents are not what each envision, they are totally different and somewhat weird on occasion. Needless to say, each set of parents and their families have Paula and Richard questioning what kind of person they actually married. Also thrown into the middle of this, is that Paula and Richard are working on a screenplay that needs revision after revision. The Producer they are working with (played by Ron Silver) is the epitome of Hollywood Producers - he will say and act however he can - from lying about his child that may or may not exist to finally making real adult decisions - to get his movie done. What makes matters worse is that Paula and Richard have a total breakdown during their trip so the script revisions aren't done by a very tight shooting deadline. You don't have to know much about Hollywood screen writing to see that this is a story about two people who love each other, but worked so hard that they didn't have time to let anybody else in. They seemed to be compatible, they've known each other for 5 years total - 2 years and then lived together for 3 - who didn't really know each other at all. What they are learning is that their life does not fit into a neatly written screenplay format as they have obviously lived and controlled. And now that their life play has been re-written/revised, can their relationship endure? I would not say this is a total chick flick, nor is it an adrenaline flowing male romp. It is about two 'best friends' and their paths into real world adulthood and long term commitment.

A reunion of sorts for director Norman Jewison & writers Barry Levinson & Valerie Curtin (who worked together on 1979's And Justice for All) on this comedy from 1982. Burt Reynolds & Goldie Hawn play screenwriters who are partners at work & partners at home who feel the stirrings of marriage but when they decide to tie the knot & visit each other's in-laws, the sinking feeling of regret soon settles in even as a film they have in production needs their services. Screaming 'inspired by real life', this tale clearly mirrored Levinson/Curtin's real relationship which gives us some interesting comic vignettes but not much else since as a couple on screen, Reynolds & Hawn look uncomfortable even when they're embraced in affection. Jewison hadn't directed such froth as this since his early days in the 60's when he made a couple of Doris Day pics so seeing him return to his roots, as it were, feels like many steps back rather than an evolution for this auteur.

I saw this first in 1982. Nothing has changed for me in 20 years. She still is the wisdom of Solomon when it comes to marriage. Anyone thinking about getting married should watch it, and instead of getting married, find a woman they don't like and buy them a house.

I was a kid when I saw this but remember it for it's realism. I love sappy, hollywood unrealistic love stories dearly and I'm not embarrassed to admit that this picture(which does NOT fall into the above mentioned genre) did indeed bore me at certain moments. But it has a realistic quality that many romantic comedies lack and though the relationship between the two main characters isn't always sappy and perfect it does have more of an element of realism then other romantic comedies-it's a realtiohip that is sometimes great, othertimes not so, it's flawed but still real--in other words it's human! Although this isn't one of my favorite flicks in the whole world I would recomend it for the reasons listed above. A movie doesn't always have to be sappy all the time, to be welldone.