I'm fascinated less by how many people like this movie than by how many describe it as funny. Brooks has written a lot of funny things, but this isn't one of them. Instead, what you've got is a bunch of unlikable characters fumbling through relationships.
This movie is very much of its time, or perhaps a little after it; weren't encounter groups on the way out by 1979? Reynolds is a lump who veers from passively drifting along (like Will Farrell in Stranger Than Fiction)to being decisive and determined then back again. Clayburgh is the sort of irritating neurotic most people would run away from. Bergen, who is occasionally amusing, most notably when she sings, is shallow and self-centered.
To me, the movie felt like a justification for bad behavior. Yes, Reynolds is hurt and damaged, but he's also pushy and insensitive. The movie seems to be saying, hey, if divorced guys treat you badly, they're still swell guys, they're just confused and struggling through life.
Far too dreary to be a comedy, far too shallow and unrealistic to be a drama, and too uneventful to be a melodrama, Starting Over just sits there, of no use to anyone.
This movie is very much of its time, or perhaps a little after it; weren't encounter groups on the way out by 1979? Reynolds is a lump who veers from passively drifting along (like Will Farrell in Stranger Than Fiction)to being decisive and determined then back again. Clayburgh is the sort of irritating neurotic most people would run away from. Bergen, who is occasionally amusing, most notably when she sings, is shallow and self-centered.
To me, the movie felt like a justification for bad behavior. Yes, Reynolds is hurt and damaged, but he's also pushy and insensitive. The movie seems to be saying, hey, if divorced guys treat you badly, they're still swell guys, they're just confused and struggling through life.
Far too dreary to be a comedy, far too shallow and unrealistic to be a drama, and too uneventful to be a melodrama, Starting Over just sits there, of no use to anyone.