Only the most tenacious movie fan will be able to tolerate this early tryout from future cult director Brian DePalma which seems like a really bad first attempt at a film school project, one that somehow and mysteriously for reasons I'll never understand got an art house release. It gets instant curiosity because of the presence in small parts two future big stars, Robert DeNiro and Jill Clayburgh, delegated to minor roles in a film that stars the handsome but charisma lacking Charles Pfluger as the nervous groom, anxious over his pending wedding to Clayburgh.
DeNiro is simply present as one of Pfluger's pals, offering unsolicited advise, his voice very cleat, but physical appearance dulled by the lifeless photography.
I'm surprised by the amateurish look of this that it managed to see the light of day before DePalma took off as a director. I much prefer his other early films with DeNiro, "Greetings" and "Hi Mom". Those were equally experimental, but they at least had purpose. I found this deadly dull, impossible to get into, and not even interesting for the presence of future film icons. The camera work doesn't help with the static story, and the script doesn't indicate anything worthwhile in spending time with these characters. A date without pain killers in the dental chair is preferable to this nonsense. This tries too hard to mix in many moods, and all it succeeded in doing was altering mine to a bad one.
DeNiro is simply present as one of Pfluger's pals, offering unsolicited advise, his voice very cleat, but physical appearance dulled by the lifeless photography.
I'm surprised by the amateurish look of this that it managed to see the light of day before DePalma took off as a director. I much prefer his other early films with DeNiro, "Greetings" and "Hi Mom". Those were equally experimental, but they at least had purpose. I found this deadly dull, impossible to get into, and not even interesting for the presence of future film icons. The camera work doesn't help with the static story, and the script doesn't indicate anything worthwhile in spending time with these characters. A date without pain killers in the dental chair is preferable to this nonsense. This tries too hard to mix in many moods, and all it succeeded in doing was altering mine to a bad one.