California Suite (1978)
A number of different people end up staying at the same LA hotel. But they don't actually interact with each other. Directed by Herbert Ross.
Written by Neil Simon, this film looks at a group of different people dealing with different issues, but united by the fact that they're all staying at the same hotel. The stories have differing themes - one divorced couple is fighting over their daughter and dealing with the East coast vs. West coast issues, one couple is there for the wife who is nominated for an Academy Award, two couples are on vacation from Chicago, and one man arrives in town a day before his wife and goes out on the town with his brother.
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a lot to tie these stories together apart from their location - the different groups never interact with one another. Furthermore, some of the stories are more compelling than others, but because they're all being told in the same movie, all stories end up feeling a little short changed. The two couples from Chicago (two doctors and their wives, played by Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor) are the most slapstick type comic (Richard Pryor and his wife and stuck in the hotel room from hell) and end with some rather unfunny violence (the racial overtones were also a little strange to deal with).
Walter Matthou plays a man who comes into town a day before his wife, and meets up with his horn-dog brother. They go out and get drunk, and then Matthau finds out that his brother bought a prostitute for him. When he wakes up in the morning and realizes his wife will arrive at any time, he attempts all manner of getting her out of the room.
The two more serious stories are Maggie Smith and Michael Caine, playing British actors in town because Smith has been nominated for an Academy Award (oddly, even though her character lost in the movie, Smith won in real life for this film). Their story is one of the more compelling, as it comes out that Caine is actually gay, and they have married each other for convenience - but still have a very deep caring for one another.
Finally we have Alan Alda and Jane Fonda, playing a divorced couple fighting over their 17 year old daughter. Fonda is an abrasive, pessimistic East Coast elite, constantly belittling Alda for going soft on the West Coast. But she knows that for all of her outward strength, she's deeply unhappy and she stands a real chance of losing her daughter because of her attitude.
Overall, it's something of a jumbled film, and while it has some nice parts, would be better served as a movie by either tying the characters together somehow or simply being a movie about one, possibly two of the groups. Instead, trying to deal with all four groups means that no one group gets the attention they deserve.
Written by Neil Simon, this film looks at a group of different people dealing with different issues, but united by the fact that they're all staying at the same hotel. The stories have differing themes - one divorced couple is fighting over their daughter and dealing with the East coast vs. West coast issues, one couple is there for the wife who is nominated for an Academy Award, two couples are on vacation from Chicago, and one man arrives in town a day before his wife and goes out on the town with his brother.
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a lot to tie these stories together apart from their location - the different groups never interact with one another. Furthermore, some of the stories are more compelling than others, but because they're all being told in the same movie, all stories end up feeling a little short changed. The two couples from Chicago (two doctors and their wives, played by Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor) are the most slapstick type comic (Richard Pryor and his wife and stuck in the hotel room from hell) and end with some rather unfunny violence (the racial overtones were also a little strange to deal with).
Walter Matthou plays a man who comes into town a day before his wife, and meets up with his horn-dog brother. They go out and get drunk, and then Matthau finds out that his brother bought a prostitute for him. When he wakes up in the morning and realizes his wife will arrive at any time, he attempts all manner of getting her out of the room.
The two more serious stories are Maggie Smith and Michael Caine, playing British actors in town because Smith has been nominated for an Academy Award (oddly, even though her character lost in the movie, Smith won in real life for this film). Their story is one of the more compelling, as it comes out that Caine is actually gay, and they have married each other for convenience - but still have a very deep caring for one another.
Finally we have Alan Alda and Jane Fonda, playing a divorced couple fighting over their 17 year old daughter. Fonda is an abrasive, pessimistic East Coast elite, constantly belittling Alda for going soft on the West Coast. But she knows that for all of her outward strength, she's deeply unhappy and she stands a real chance of losing her daughter because of her attitude.
Overall, it's something of a jumbled film, and while it has some nice parts, would be better served as a movie by either tying the characters together somehow or simply being a movie about one, possibly two of the groups. Instead, trying to deal with all four groups means that no one group gets the attention they deserve.
posted by Mike at 11:38 AM
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