Starting Over (1979)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Alan J. Pakula

Writers:

James L. Brooks (writer)
Dan Wakefield (novel)

Release Date:

15 February 1980 (Australia)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Phil Potter would like to straighten out his life...One way, or the other.

Plot:

A divorced man falls in love, but somehow he can't get over his ex-wife. This effects his love life in comic ways. Based on Dan Wakefield's novel.

Plot Keywords:

Divorcé | Thanksgiving | Human Relationship | Support Group | Christmas

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 6 nominations

Cast

Burt Reynolds	...	Phil Potter
Jill Clayburgh	...	Marilyn Holmberg
Candice Bergen	...	Jessica Potter
Charles Durning	...	Michael (Mickey) Potter
Frances Sternhagen	...	Marva Potter
Austin Pendleton	...	Paul
Mary Kay Place	...	Marie
MacIntyre Dixon	...	Dan Ryan
Jay O. Sanders	...	Larry (as Jay Sanders)
Charles Kimbrough	...	Salesman
Richard Whiting	...	Everett
Alfie Wise	...	Workshop Member
Wallace Shawn	...	Workshop Member
Sturgis Warner	...	John Morganson
Mary Catherine Wright	...	Student 1 (as Mary C. Wright)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:M | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Norway:16 | USA:R | UK:AA (original rating) | UK:15 (re-rating) (1987)

Filming Locations:

Boston Garden - 150 Causeway Street, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Century Associates

Trivia:

One of the locations was an actual apartment building in New York City. Tenants were upset because they were forbidden from entering or leaving their apartments while scenes were shot in the hallway.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: As Jessica and Phil prepare to go to bed, he slips off underwear below bottom frame line. But as shot continues, actor Burt Reynolds is clearly wearing abbreviated white undergarment.

Quotes:

Marilyn Holmberg: What do you want?
Phil Potter: I want us to live together. I want us to get married. I want us to have children together. I want us to put our teeth in the same cup. I want us buried together in a family plot with one headstone. What do you want?
Marilyn Holmberg: I want a separate cup for my teeth.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Golden Girls: Ladies of the Evening (#2.2)" (1986)

Soundtrack:

Starting Over

Well Made Comedy

This well made adaptation of Dan Wakefield's novel has wonderful comic moments and full-bodied performances. Burt Reynolds underplays his role and does some of the finest work of his roller-coaster career (it's up there with "Boogie Nights" and "Deliverance"). Candice Bergen is hysterical in the role of the wife who wants freedom and a singing career. (Little did we know in 1979 that Bergen would go onto great comedic success as Murphy Brown)James L. Brooks does a terrific job with the screenplay - the divorced men's group scenes really ring true and the moment when they have to leave their community center space so the women's divorce group can then use the room is uncomfortable and very funny. In my opinion, Clayburgh gives an up and down performance, sometimes really connecting with Reynolds and other times she just seems to be impersonating Diane Keaton. Fine supporting work by the always reliable Charles Durning and Austin Pendleton. This film is very hard to find in video stores for some reason. I just happned to catch it again on cable and was pleasantly surprised with how well it holds up.