11.21.07
Forget Paris
I watched (re-watched for about the umpteenth [who says UMPTEENTH?] time) Forget Paris on the same day I watched Miami Rhapsody. There is something about both of them that is distinctly Woody Allen-esque. This one specifically reminds me of Melinda & Melinda, mostly because there is this frame story of friends sitting around drinking and telling stories.
Andy (Joe Mantegna - I could say his name all day long and not get tired of it!) is going to marry Liz (Cynthia Stevenson - why I always get her confused with Hope Davis makes no sense…) and she’s going to meet his friends but while they’re waiting for the friends to show up, Joe starts in on the story of Mickey (Billy Crystal, who also directed) and Ellen (Debra Winger - who I kind of love for every reason that *isn’t* the movie Searching for Debra Winger which I kind of loathe because it just reeked of self-indulgence). They met in Paris where she worked for the airline that lost his father’s body and fell in LOVE in PARIS. But then Mickey had to go back to the States to keep being an NBA referee. Of course, eventually she comes to be with him and they get married - awwww. But from there it all turns to shit because he’s always on the road, she’s always on the Rocky Road (she gets fat - that wasn’t a great joke, was it? sorry), she wants a baby, her dad comes to live with them, she goes back to France. This whole story is intercut with Andy and Liz and their friends getting all involved in the story.
There’s nothing groundbreaking about Forget Paris and though he’s charming enough, I find it a tiny bit hard to buy this version of Billy Crystal as a romantic lead with Debra Winger. Also, apparently it used to be OK, in like 1995 or whatever, for the main chick in a movie to have frizzy hair and wear sensible shoes. Go figure. But in general, this is a really cute little story that is romantic and sweet without making me want to cry into my salad because I’m single.