BEFORE: The obvious next choice, since both Richard Dreyfuss and Holly Hunter carry over from "Always". Just a couple of romances left on the list at this point.
THE PLOT: Renata Bella feels like a failure at life and career, but when she attends a seminar on selling real estate, she finally finds true love with Sam Sharpe, a successful but older salesman.
AFTER: This is sort of slice-of-life film, about a close Boston-area Italian family, and what happens to it when the oldest daughter finally finds love with an "outsider" - a New Yorker of Lithuanian descent. His well-meaning but abrasive forwardness often clashes with the way the family is used to operating, but since he's in love and means well, he eventually finds a way to fit in.
This is a situation I'm somewhat familiar with, since I'm on my second set of in-laws. The first time around I spent a fair amount of time visiting family in Cleveland, and I admit the first few trips had their share of bumps, but eventually we bonded, and having a similar ethnic background (Irish/German) went a long way. When I got divorced, I consoled myself that at least I never had to drive to Cleveland again, or attend another Irish folk music festival.
The second time around, I had to reconcile with an Italian-American family, who were also Yankees fans, and being originally from the Boston area probably didn't help me. But eventually it all worked out.
This is a fairly simple film, it doesn't really aspire to great heights, but then maybe it doesn't really need to. It tells the stories of these individuals in a way that endears them, and that should be noble enough.
The Boston accent is a tough one to pull off - less is usually more, if you go over the top with it, it can sound cartoonish. Some actors here do OK with it by just altering their normal accents slightly, but Holly Hunter goes way too far to over-compensate, and it just doesn't work.
Also, I was led to believe at some point that the only traffic rotaries in the U.S. are found in Massachusetts, but something tells me this is not necessarily the case. Perhaps they're just called traffic circles or roundabouts in other states?
Also starring Danny Aiello, Laura San Giacomo, with cameos from Greg Germann (last seen in "Friends With Money"), Griffin Dunne (last seen in "The Great Buck Howard").
RATING: 5 out of 10 ice skates
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