Filmmaker Paul Aaron ("A Force of One", "Deadly Force") began his career with this odd spin on the romantic formula. Written by Henry Olek, the premise has a gay female real estate agent, Stella (Meg Foster), and a gay male designer, Albert (Perry King), living as housemates. He turns out to be an illegal alien, and she gets the bright idea to marry him so he won't be faced with deportation. One night, after some drunken birthday celebrations, they end up in bed together and thereafter develop romantic feelings for each other.
This certainly had the potential to be a total misfire, and could still easily be seen as problematic to a number of viewers. But it actually works fairly well, at least in its first half, before succumbing to corniness and predictability in its second half. Some audience members could probably do without the character of Stellas' previous lover Phyllis (Valerie Curtin, '9 to 5'), who's clearly unbalanced. But the characters of Stella and Albert are treated as healthy, happy, balanced individuals. This admittedly wouldn't be as successful if King and especially Foster weren't so good in their respective roles. You really do like these two, despite everything.
Available now on Blu-ray in its original R-rated form (with some brief profanity and nudity), this was unsurprisingly quite controversial 43 years ago. Even today, it's not going to be to all (or very many) tastes. But curious movie watchers may still want to give this a look, if only for the performances (including Peter Donat ("The China Syndrome"), as a prominent orchestra conductor who was Alberts' previous romantic partner).
Seven out of 10.
This certainly had the potential to be a total misfire, and could still easily be seen as problematic to a number of viewers. But it actually works fairly well, at least in its first half, before succumbing to corniness and predictability in its second half. Some audience members could probably do without the character of Stellas' previous lover Phyllis (Valerie Curtin, '9 to 5'), who's clearly unbalanced. But the characters of Stella and Albert are treated as healthy, happy, balanced individuals. This admittedly wouldn't be as successful if King and especially Foster weren't so good in their respective roles. You really do like these two, despite everything.
Available now on Blu-ray in its original R-rated form (with some brief profanity and nudity), this was unsurprisingly quite controversial 43 years ago. Even today, it's not going to be to all (or very many) tastes. But curious movie watchers may still want to give this a look, if only for the performances (including Peter Donat ("The China Syndrome"), as a prominent orchestra conductor who was Alberts' previous romantic partner).
Seven out of 10.