FUNNY ABOUT LOVE

US, 1990, 108 minutes, Colour.
Gene Wilder, Christine Lahti, Mary Stuart Masterson, Robert Prosky, Stephen Tobolowsky, Anne Jackson, Susan Ruttan.
Directed by Leonard Nimoy.

Funny About Love is a serious and comic look at relationships, family, children. It was directed by Leonard Nimoy (apart from Star Trek, he directed Baby Boom, Three Men and a Baby).

It is hard to accept Gene Wilder as a serious romantic hero, despite the fact that he does his best. He gives a performance of warmth - but one is always expecting him to be zanily comic. However, he is matched with Christine Lahti who gives great strength to her performance as his wife. Mary Stuart Masterson is the young girl with whom he becomes involved. Robert Prosky and Anne Jackson are his parents. Susan Ruttan (of LA Law) gives a good performance as the seemingly dim-witted wife of his father.

The film focuses on relationships, lifestyles in New York, the desire for children, medical difficulties with fertility, marriage breakdown and separation, reconciliation. Often the film is funny about love.

1.Enjoyable film? Amiable? Relationships, love, children, the battle of the sexes?

2.The New York backgrounds, Californian backgrounds? The different lifestyles? Life in the city? Musical score?

3.The strength of the cast, Gene Wilder as romantic hero?

4.Duffy, the cartoonist, his ability with drawings, words, political comment? Autographs, the women coming to him, the cup of coffee, the attack, seeing Meg, following her, proposal, going out, courting her, their living together, her moving in and their marriage? The love, tenderness, bonds between the two? Duffy as a credible character?

5.Meg, the coffee, the discussions, her being attracted to Duffy, going out with him, living with him, the marriage? Her love for him?

6.The desire for children, pregnancy, the pressures, the temperatures and tests, the comic touches? The questions of fertility? The jokes, going to the doctor, his jokes? The tests for both Duffy and Meg? Artificial insemination - comic and serious? The failure of the pregnancy?

7.Duffy's mother, her criticisms and nagging, the dinner, her attack on Meg? Her talking with Duffy - and the sudden irony of her death, the funeral?

8.Duffy's father, quiet, successful businessman, the meal, his response to his wife's death, grief? His meeting with Clare, going out with her, having to justify himself to his son and daughter? The bond with Clare? The decision to marry? The children's concern? His not wanting to be alone, love for Clare?

9.The pressures on Duffy and Meg, the restaurant and Meg's success? The funeral and the children, Duffy wanting children? The clash with Meg? Opportunities, the breakdown, Meg's decision to leave? Duffy's preoccupation with children?

10.Duffy going interstate, the talk, the women and his humour, enjoying himself, dancing? Daphne, her matter-of-fact style, friendship with Duffy? At the TV station? The beginning of the affair, living together, sexual encounters, her youthfulness, his enthusiasm? Sharing experiences, her rejuvenating him? The pregnancy, the doctor, the miscarriage? Her decision to leave, the break, his not being able to say that he loved her?

11.Meg and Clare, discussions together? Clare and her changing, being more sympathetic, the wedding, inviting Meg, hoping Duffy would reconcile? Duffy and his apology to Clare?

12.The wedding, Meg's presence, the celebration, the talking, Meg leaving, the parents hinting that Meg wanted to be there, Duffy's hurrying away, the adopted baby, the restaurant, the reconciliation?

13.The blend of the serious and the comic? The plausibility of plot and characters? Insight into love, relationships, family and children?