Husbands and Wives (1992)

Too much of everything

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This Woody Allen drama combines many of his frequently used elements, bringing a fresh combination to the themes he often visits. Infidelity, marital difficulties, therapy, and mortality are all discussed ad nauseum in the film, but instead of a linear storyline, he films it as a pseudo-documentary. The four main characters are separately interviewed to discuss their thoughts and feelings, interspersed with the plot of the destruction of the two marriages, which is sometimes narrated by the interviewer.Sydney Pollack and Judy Davis announce to their closest friends Woody Allen and Mia Farrow that they're ending their marriage. As they explore the single life, Woody and Mia look at the problems in their own marriage. Mia's tempted by Liam Neeson, a co-worker, and Woody is drawn to the hero-worship of one of his students, Juliette Lewis.I didn't really like this movie, because besides Mia Farrow, none of the characters were remotely likable. Mia's given the least impetus in the plot, so for most of the movie, I became increasingly more frustrated with everyone else. Yes, everyone has problems and relationships are incredibly difficult, but is it necessary to waste 104 minutes watching an uninteresting movie about it? If a movie's going to depress me, it'd better have a reason. Plus, knowing that the twelve-year relationship between Mia and Woody went down in scandalous flames during this film makes it difficult to enjoy watching them argue on screen. This was the last of their thirteen movies together, and I can't help but think that was part of the reason audiences flocked to the theaters to see this one.DLM warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie is not your friend. Pretty much the entire movie uses a hand-held cameras, and it will make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"

Husbands and Wives exemplifies everything that people "don't like" about Allen's work; that its Allen-centric, in that his literary leanings and obvious qualities as a writer for some reason put him in front of the camera half the time, and that the main characters are all over-privileged Manhattan creatives or academics with swanky apartments, that conveniently never seem to do any actual work, just revel in the emotional drama and romantic comedy potential of their personal lives.I don't dislike Allen's films per se, his recent picture Blue Jasmine has an excellent script, by turns witty, brilliant, insightful etc. Everything Allen would ideally like to see in himself every morning in the mirror is here, and other films of his are well known little masterpieces, but Husbands and Wives is badly overrated, and it bothers me a bit that major voices in the US media nodded approvingly when the film opened. (see Rotten Tomatoes.com).The main problem, to put it bluntly, is that 80% of the film is in hand held, head and shoulders footage of the actors, intercut with occasional locked off shots of the cast confessing guilt, contempt and regrets over their mid-life failed marriages. This, in itself, makes the film feel more like a radio play that happens to take place on screen, and although shaky hand held shots can (and do) create a 'there, in the middle of it all' feel for drama, it goes way overboard. The film feels cheap, claustrophobic and repetitive. The other problem is the plot - or lack of. Essentially, this is the story of two couples entering mid life, feeling disappointed with their relationships and going through with break-ups and affairs, and Husbands and Wives is definitely more drama than comedy. In both cases, the husbands leave their partners for younger women, in Allen's case considerably younger, and in the other guys case, just for a young blonde that likes sex. There's not much to add here plotwise, except the situation opens up a lot of space for Allen's observations on relationships and human sexuality in a mature sense that you don't find often elsewhere in Hollywood movies....But did I mention the film feels plot less? It definitely does! Woody Allen's real talents are his skills as a writer and his ability to create great female characters, so during a revelatory and surprisingly funny exchange between Allen and his extramarital crush (a 20 year old literature student, played by Juliette Lewis) the film feels finished, but for some reason drags on for yet more, and more arguments, observations, exchanges etc. Its a badly made movie, without much plot and some big name actors taking a pay cut to work with a writing talent. Is it a great movie? Well, sales aren't an indicator of quality, but its a modestly budgeted movie that only made half its investment back. Other films of his live up to their reputation, this one doesn't.

One of Woody Allen's strongest films was the caustic and brilliant Husbands and Wives, a 1992 black comedy that doesn't provide a lot of belly laughs, but had me riveted to the screen with its scathingly accurate examination of the institution of marriage and the work and commitment that the institution constitutes.One of Woody's strongest outings as a writer and director, the film is shot in the form of a documentary that features an offscreen narrator who not only narrates the story but interviews the central characters as well. The film introduces us to Gabe (Woody) and Judy (Mia Farrow) a supposedly happily married couple, who are rocked by the calmly- delivered news that their best friends Jack (Sydney Pollack) and Sally (Judy Davis) are planning to divorce. What we then get is a Bergman- esque transformation between the two couples as Jack and Sally fail at new relationships and Gabe and Judy realize that they are not as happy as they think they are.There's a strong Ingmar Bergman influence here, not surprising considering that Bergman is one of Allen's few cinematic idols, as we watch two couples who are basically in the same place but don't even realize it, but end up traveling journeys that mirror each other to the point that their lives have done a complete 180 by the time closing credits roll without them realizing what has happened until after it's happened. I found myself having Personna flashbacks, the Bergman film about the actress and her nurse who gradually exchange personalities.Woody has put together an intensely personal story here that, despite the documentary film technique, still has a creepily voyeuristic feel to it. The scenes we are privy to all come off as intensely private and make the viewer feel like they are watching private moments that they are really not supposed to be seeing.As usual, Woody has assembled a first rate cast...he and Farrow are a well-oiled machine here, despite the fact that this was the final film they made together before the Soon-Yi explosion and the tension between them is apparent on screen, but it works for this story. The late Sydney Pollack once again proves that he was one of the few directors out there who could also act with his explosive performance as Jack and Judy Davis's crisp and unpredictable Sally actually earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Davis is just riveting here in a performance that burns a hole through the camera and makes it impossible to take your eyes off the woman and when Davis is not on screen, the movie is just a little bit slower. LOVE the scene where Sally asks a blind date to use his phone twice so that she can yell at Jack about moving in with someone else.Liam Neesom is sexy and vulnerable as a co-worker of Farrow's who comes between her and Davis and Juliette Lewis, in a role I kept picturing Winona Ryder in, scores as a student in Gabe's writing class who he eventually leaves Judy for. Lysette Anthony also makes an impression as the woman Jack moves in with after leaving Sally. The scene where where Pollack and Anthony make a very noisy exit from a party is almost frightening in its realism.This is not your usual Woody Allen fare and if you're looking for something with a lot of fall on the floor laughter, you will be disappointed, but if you're dedicated Woody-phile looking to experience his finest work as a writer and director, Husbands and Wives should be at the top of your viewing list. This is a masterpiece, right up there with Hannah and her Sisters and Crimes and Misdemeanors

Apologetically Woody Allen and I went to the very same High school with a 15 year difference I must say another Woody Allen Celebration of the once great liberal Corporate capitalist society's middle class lifestyle and the objectification the human experiences of sex and living.Sorry I am not the biggest of fans though respectfully one can suppose they should be grateful for subject matter that would be better detailed in a book rather than in the shorthand form of popular film and cinema in what is not always relevant to everyone. Woody Allen films though of a interesting nature and good quality seemingly often presents a one sided view of what is essentially existential liberal and intellectual as if his life revolves around what exists in a Cocoon. These films are not Robert De Niro Raging Bull. Woody Allen perhaps Woody Allen closest to Dustin Hoffman in many ways is distinguished as even more insular where I would wish he broke out of his mold that is unique to him as a stylized artist who seems to have stopped expanding beyond what he has already done in his career.This title Husbands and Wives lives up to its title but it fails to expand beyond that subject matter 26 minutes into the film in its predictable formulaic nature which though thoughtful and provocative in that sense neither present entertainment nor any intellectual breakthrough in the sphere of the middle class life style.I want and demand significance and though this film is interesting but in that it fails to provide what "I want and demand significance" I am disappointed. This is not the three stooges nor peter Boyle. This is exclusively Woody Allen where I presume his productions are the products of his cloistered environment which means nothing to me except the world is pathetically mundane which would need to produce the dynamics of the working and under classes if there was no "working and under classes" that are sorely lacking in Woody Allen films.So 35 minutes into the film and I am still bored as the dynamics are insular subjective of a personal nature that seems to be lacking a social element similar in nature to Jane Austen but lacking the blunt social dynamics life is so full of.