Worth Winning (1989)

Awesome Movie

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Bland 80s romantic comedy about weatherman Make Harmon betting his friend that he can get three different women to accept his proposal of marriage, on camera no less. That's not really all that funny or clever of a plot set-up, but I suppose it's serviceable enough. The women Harmon pursues include Madeleine Stowe, Lesley Ann Warren, Andrea Martin, and Maria Holvoe, so three of the four actresses are quite respectable, well known, and certainly better than this very unoriginal of material. I think seeing the usually serious Stowe in such a light film was the most amusing part of the film. Overall, "Worth Winning" would be completely unwatchable if it wasn't for the cast and 80s nostalgia value.

Taylor Worth (Mark Harmon) has a way with women, even beyond those who might like dating a TV weatherman. When he enters a room, the place is his and he can have any woman within its walls. This upsets his close male friends very much. They are all married, yes, but they never scored like Taylor and its too late now. With that in mind, these pals can not resist a major wager. Can Taylor get engaged to three different women, all of THEIR choosing, or is he just not up to the task? With a Picasso painting as part of the bet, Taylor decides to go for it. The women turn out to be, in turn, a virginal sports promoter, a snooty concert pianist, and a married beauty wed to a famous businessman. What was Taylor thinking? This is a fairly successful romcom for the over 18 crowd. Harmon is quite good as the colossal womanizer who may just have a heart beating in his chest, somewhere. The other actors are also successful, with Madeleine Stowe giving a rare comic performance that delights. The script is pretty funny but has a definite raunchy edge to it, so the film is really not good viewing for any minors in earshot. Costumes and production values are great. For those who can't get enough of those funny love tales, seek out this one, too. It has some good laughs and, very importantly, some real romantic ideas, too.

So, it's about five o'clock in the morning and I'm about to put a tape in the VCR to watch some Asian action movie, but decide to channel-flip for a few minutes first. I come across the beginning of Worth Winning, an obvious cheesy '80s half-heartedly tongue-in-cheek "bad boy" romance, seemingly targeted for daytime soap audiences. I usually never watch stuff like that. All the horrible light-blue and pink sweaters the characters wear instantly give me a bad taste in my mouth, but in this case I keep watching because Madeleine Stowe catches my eye. Young, cute and sophisticated, and many leagues above this material, she is delightful to watch. So I watch the whole movie.Apart from its bad taste in clothes and generally preposterous premise, shallow characters and completely unrealistic situations, it's not that bad. It has a classic structure, actually. As seen in many other stories, we have a guy going through three stages, or in this case, three women. The middle-aged rich aristocrat (loosely representing monarchy), the virginal romantic maiden (loosely representing the romantic ideals and rituals aspired to in the conservative bourgeois lifestyle) and the intellectual artist (loosely representing the realization of the full human potential for independent thinking and self-expression). These three, on the symbol level, represent three different social orders: old and obsolete royalist aristocracy, current republican bourgeoisie and a future liberal utopia. As it ends with the attaining of the latter, the story actually does have some redeeming artistic and social value, in that it - in a very subtle and non-literal way, of course - urges the audience to embrace a new, better and freer social order. This storytelling structure is actually very literate, and I'm not surprised the storyline came from a novel.Now, if only the movie wasn't thoroughly suffused by that insufferable Barbara Cartland air, it might garner a higher rating than a 6 out of 10.

Mark Harmon in a ridiculous comedy about a swinging TV weather guy who bets with 3 friends that he can get engaged to 3 girls within a 3 month period.The lucky people in this inane foolishness are 2 of the 3 friends. After the wager is made, they are rarely if ever seen for the rest of this dismal flick.You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that the three girls will eventually find out and plot revenge. Madeleine Stowe is a concert pianist. Moody, she appears the most difficult for Harmon to conquer. There's also a female sports player and a bored housewife married to a millionaire. The latter played by the reliable Lesley Ann Warren.The basic problem with this film is really who cares?There is of course the wedding scene where the intended lady says no at the last minute and you can readily guess who her bridesmaids are. Then, Harmon will have to win her back in a raffle!Predictable nonsense. One of the bettors was a psychiatrist. He should have ordered therapy for all involved in this flick.