Starting Over | Burt Reynolds, Jill Clayburgh | STARTING OVER

Starting Over | Burt Reynolds, Jill Clayburgh | Candice Bergen should've been a singer . . .

DVDs:

Starting Over

	Starting Over Burt Reynolds, Jill Clayburgh Paramount, 2005 average customer review:based on 22 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Reluctantly forced into the role of bachelor when his songstress wife calls it quits, Phil must essentially start from scratch in the social realm and make a new start.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: R
Release Date: 21-JUN-2005
Media Type: DVD

STARTING OVER - BURT'S BEST?

This well crafted comedy features stellar performances by its 3 top-billed stars, Clayburgh, Bergen and Reynolds; the true surprise here was the low key acting by Burt Reynolds, who plays a humble, insecure magazine writer, recently dumped by his spouse, and testing the dating waters with Jill Clayburgh, among others. Supporting roles by Charles Durning, Frances Sternhagen and Austin Pendleton round out the cast and (they) contribute to the warmth and pathos of this comedy. Phil Potter (Reynolds) has just discovered his aspiring songwriter-wife Jessica (Candace Bergen in a funny, self-deprecating role) has been having an affair with his boss and she wants out of the 8 yr. marriage to pursue her songwriting dreams. Stunned, he retreats to Boston to begin a new life with the encouragement of his psychiatrist brother Mickey (Durning) who sets him up with love-shy Marilyn Holmgren (Clayburgh) and enrolls him in group therapy. Just as Phil is finding his footing in a relationship with the insecure Marilyn, Jessica shows up to try and woo him back, which includes a funny offkey serenading by Bergen, now a successful songwriter.
Both Clayburgh and Bergen were nominated for Oscars, but it's Reynolds (whose performance was inexplicably ignored by Oscar) who shines in a role against type - no macho, mustachioed, testosterone-laced good old boy posturing here. He plays the wounded middle-aged Phil Potter trying to make a new life for himself in an understated , sympathetic un-reynolds manner and is totally charming.
This 1979 flick was superbly directed by Alan J Pakula, and is highly recommended; also good to view around the christmas holidays.

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Candice Bergen should've been a singer . . .

I'm kidding. Her singing is horrible in "Starting Over"--but intentionally so. Her wonderful self-centered character is supposed to be a rotten singer--and her scenes with Burt Reynolds are comic gems. As for Mr. Reynolds, he's never been better--not even in "Boogie Nights". This is his best performance. You really feel for his character in this film as he tries to start a new life after he and his wife (Ms. Bergen) break up. And then there's Jill Clayburgh, one of my favorite actresses of all time. She's delightful as an insecure woman looking for love. Both she and Candice Bergen were nominated for Oscars--and Mr. Reynolds should've been, too. And in effective supporting roles Charles Durning, Frances Sternhagen and Austin Pendleton add their talent to this terrific film. I cannot say enough great things about "Starting Over"--you need to see it for yourself. So what are you waiting for? Go watch it right now.

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Hard to believe this is the same Burt Reynolds we know today.

I must admit, I've had this DVD for well over a year sitting in my very small Burt Reynolds DVD collection after picking it up in a 4 for $30 offer being unable to find anything else. I finally decided to watch it and what a surprise this turned out to be. This is a very low key performance from Burt Reynolds. I can't say much more about this movie that has not been said below. I will say that the chemistry and comic timing as noted by other reviewers is seamless. Whether it was a decision by the director to restrain Reynolds from his usual good old boy performances or whether Burt Reynolds decided to play the character as he did lead to Reynolds giving a performance that I don't think has fitted him more at any other time in his career. This is a well written, well acted character piece with a light sprinkling of humor throughout. I love the scenes involving the divorced men's club that Reynolds character attends with some great scenes in Charles During's home who plays Reynolds older brother in the movie. I only have time for a handful of Reynolds movies over his career, 100 Rifles, fuzz, Deliverance, Shamus, White Lightening, The Longest Yard, Hustle, Semi-Tough, Sharky's Machine and Breaking In. I have yet to see Best Friends and Stick. Watching some of the stuff Reynolds is involved in now makes it hard to believe that it is the same person or actor that was involved in some of his best early 70's work. Smokey And The Bandit, his greatest success is also an enjoyable movie but I have always felt that it was probably more than all the flops Reynolds made in the 80's the movie that ended his career because it type cast him in that type of role. In Starting Over, Burt Reynolds showed that he was capable of much more given the right material and a good director who knew what to do with him and it's a shame more people have not seen his performance in this.

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Burt Gets Serious. Kinda.

To call Burt Reynolds' performance in this offbeat romantic comedy "Oscar-worthy" is a bit of a stretch, but it was definitely a step out of the norm for him. In fact, it was a step out of the norm for most of the key talents involved; director Alan J. Pakula was better known for eerie mysteries like "Klute" and "Presumed Innocent," while the character that Candace Bergen plays bears no resemblance to Murphy Brown or any of the brassier roles we've gotten used to seeing her in. Here, she is Reynolds' ex-wife, while Jill Clayburgh is Reynolds' new love, and the central question to be answered is whether Burt will stick with Clayburgh or go back to Bergen.

The outcome is never particularly in doubt, and the film has an uneven pace and longeurs where the laughs dry up, but it is often quite on the mark about the reality of breakups and when it IS funny, it's very funny. And yes, Burt does shed his Bandit persona and turn in a respectable portrayal of the less-than-happily singled male, but if there's an overlooked performance in the film it's that of Clayburgh, who is delightfully kooky and neurotic and real as a single female wary of getting wrapped up with a divorcee. Her, and of course Charles Durning, who turns in another rock-solid performance as the plain-spoken, long-suffering friend of the hero, a part he's played wonderfully for what seems like a million years without sufficient kudos.

Not a perfect picture, but certainly different and worth a look.

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Good, but not quite good enough

It's part of movie lore that Burt Reynolds' career hit the toilet the moment he decided to do Stroker Ace instead of Terms of Endearment, but what people forget is that his previous collaboration with James L. Brooks, on the Alan J. Pakula-directed Starting Over, didn't exactly set the box-office on fire. At the time industry pundits claimed it was because he shaved his `tache for the film (no, really) but in retrospect it's probably more because this often feels a bit like a superior Lifetime TV movie, the kind of film you won't mind watching if it's on and you have nothing better to do but which you wouldn't actively seek out. There are good moments and good performances (both Candice Bergen, who delivers a trio of memorably awful songs with unashamed - intentional - incompetence and Jill Clayburgh were Oscar nominated as the ex-wife and new woman in unwilling divorcee Reynolds' life, while Charles Durning is on good understated form as his psychiatrist brother), but for all the care with which its made it just never quite catches fire.

Paramount's DVD typically boasts no extras but does offer a decent widescreen transfer.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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