Word: film
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Dates: during 1980-1980
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...emotionally frigid woman we expect in a mathematician, her exaggerated angst at life's problems seems to corroborate another insupportable stereotype; that a woman's intelligence is not a blessing, but a curse. Gundzinger's suggested brilliance--one only gets an inkling of it in the film--always conspires to work against her. The men who are attracted to her are attracted not because but in spite of her intellect. Her intelligence merely makes it difficult, if not impossible, for her to maintain satisfying relationships. The screenplay, by involving her with a somewhat pedestrian builder and a charming, but puerile...
...film's inherently dull plot accentuates these character problems. As the film opens, Gundzinger is planning to return to New York for her father's wedding. He is marrying a woman she dislikes intensely--for absolutely no logical reason. It's a plot we've seen before, as we watch the two sides of the family acquainting themselves at the obligatory pre-wedding fete in a restaurant. We sit through another child's lament about a perfectly reasonable second marriage. The situation does not in the least seems traumatic, but Clayburgh plays the extreme neurotic, raging about how she doesn...
...THIS FILM is director Weill's first foray into Hollywood-backed, large budget production. She also directed the promising independent production Girlfriends several years ago. It's My Turn has lost the special personal intimacy of Girlfriends without gaining in technical virtuosity. Its visually unengaging photography may sketch the plot, but is without artistic merit...
...film's botched handling of a supposedly feminist message is only partly redeemed by its spotty ability to convey our awkward attempts to overcome personal isolation. Gundzinger does not love the builder but lives with him because "he gives me space and makes me laugh," and that is infinitely preferable to loneliness. In one of the movie's most subtly haunting scenes, Gundzinger faces her new future mother-in-law alone for the first time. Gundzinger has just thrown up, and is embarrassed. The older woman is embarrassed by Gundzinger's embarrassment. The two, who do not get along...
Lawrence Sanders' novel could serve as the basis for a taut, lurid little film noir, but this adaptation is as plodding and routine as most police work-or as a police novel unredeemed by narrative surprises or a galvanic prose style. The plot doubles back on itself and wanders off on pointless tangents. A subplot involving Delaney's critically ill wife (Faye Dunaway) is never integrated into the manhunt story, and Dunaway is wasted in a role that keeps her flat on her back. Mostly, she is forgotten as the gumshoe and the hobnail boots approach each other...