UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

dierregi I watched this movie at the time of its release when I was in my twenties and found it unremarkable. After many years and a serious relationship, this finally hit home.In documentary-style, Allen shows us what most middle aged couples fear to face: the dissolution of their marriages, due to habit, boredom and frustration. The kind of situation that arises simply by living with someone for many years, without any major dramatic event occurring.Allen and Farrow plays Gabe and Judy. Since the movie was the last before their acrimonious split, most of their dialogue sounds uncomfortably realistic. Pollack and Davis are their friends Jack and Sally, who set the story in motion with their "trial" separation.Soon all four friends are entangled in new relationship or fantasize about one. Sally and then Judy are attracted to romantic Michael (Neeson), while Gabe is infatuated with Rain (Juliette Lewis) a student, who reciprocates.However, Rain is "just" a serial older-men lover with the most annoying nasal voice and this indiscretion ends nowhere. On a side note, I never liked Lewis, who once again plays a lascivious nymphet with little energy.I am not a big fan of Farrow, either. With her oversize, thick sweaters, long skirts and super-short hair Farrow is at her most unattractive in this movie. Her character is also whiny and pushy, making her my least favorite of the quartet.The movie ends with a twist that I found hard to believe, and a lot of ambiguity about the future of the characters that I found a lot more believable. Not for the romantics, but definitely worthy.

mark.waltz Excellent performances can't hide the fact that the four major characters in this are completely unlikable. Yes, they all show a few redeeming values, but those come out of their need to manipulate. For the most part, they thrive on pure selfishness, self hatred and narcissistic behavior that is often hard to take. In their last film together, Woody Allen and Mia Farrow barely seem to stand working with each other, while friends Sydney Pollack and Judy Davis make Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner seem like Ward and June Cleaver. They are better developed than Allen and Farrow who never legally married but ended up in their own war of the rises.At first, the camera seems to be as shaky as the two marriages that this focus is on. No sooner has the film begun, then the marriages have pretty much ended with each of the four people becoming involved in other relationships yet finding opportunities to harass their estranged spouses every chance he gets. Pollock is particularly volatile in his relationship with a much younger Lysette Anthony, culminating in a violent sequence after a party where he accuses her of purposely embarrassing him. Adding to the case of an older male involved with a younger woman, Allen end up with Juliette Lewis, who is one of his characters students. Nothing really much happened with Sarah, but Davis ends up involved with the handsome Liam Neeson who seems to appreciate her more during the short time they are together Dan Pollock did in their entire marriage. Davis, one of the best actresses of the past four decades on screen, gives the best performance and while her character at times is a bit of a harpy, she contrasts that with occasional charm and an insight into her character own self dislike is that sometimes make her painful to watch. Davis has knocked her own Oscar nominated performance, but she seems to be the only one with any kind of soul. Her scenes with Neeson are very revealing, and when her tenderness is finally revealed after much unpleasantness, it is a major relief. Still, I don't think that I would want to associate with any of the major characters.Often obnoxious, this is set up as an interview with the various characters and it is awkwardly stage with the camera sticking its nose into these characters personal lives when really, who would want to follow them?the summit documentary style of the film makes this seems like a companion piece to Ingmar Bergman's scenes of them from a marriage, but I'd have to call this scenes from two separations. Jarring editing adds in all Woody Allen films, you're glued to the screen, if not to see what's going on with these characters than the shots of early 1990's New York which takes you all over. Cameos by such familiar actors as Blythe Dinner, Ron Rifkin and Caroline Aaron adds to the film greatly. I must say that while Allen's screenplay has been praised and was Oscar nominated, I found out one of the weakest elements of the film. If it is sacrilegious to call a Woody Allen screenplay unbelievable, then I must claim to be an atheist at least where this film is concerned. Considering what was going on in his personal life, perhaps he was trying to say things that were not necessarily obvious, and at times I felt like I was sticking my nose into where it did not belong.

Gideon24 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

LindsayFlim I only began to appreciate the greatness of this film upon my second viewing. Only then did I really take it all in and appreciate just how unflinching, superbly intricate and accurate this portrayal of relationships truly is. It really is a testament to the life experience of Woody Allen to be able to write something so deeply observed and then be able to direct this vision so it plays out with such normality.It explores all the love and heartbreak elements of relationships I can bring to mind. The individual interviews are an extremely effective way of vividly revealing the thoughts that we all have about these human relationships. They capture so many thoughts around monogamy, insecurity, honesty, anger, capriciousness, philosophy, social etiquette/acceptance, courage, fantasy.. I could go on. It flips the whole wishy-washy notion of 'love' on it's head to instead really examine the practical nitty gritty of everyday life as a couple. It's also interesting to see just how these interplay affects these people of different ages.It's one of those rare films you can watch several times. I've seen many Woody Allen films and this is definitely in the top 3 for me.