Predrag
The film consists of more than two hours of a couple of writers, somehow in love with each other but unable or unwilling to marry, fussing, fighting, and shouting. And in the end, even though their sexual escapade proved less than thrilling, they end in a clinch on a couch. Happing ending. The film is not very romantic and certainly isn't funny. The moral dimensions of the script are wholly secular and consistently depressing. Marriage and children are nothing when compared to sexual urges, booze, and fame.But there are some good lines in places. And the acting is superb. Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen are something to behold. The music is above average, and Arthur Hiller displays his usual excellence as a director. But even the stars of the film were unable to put life into a lame script that is at least 30 minutes too long.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.
Gideon24
Romantic Comedy was a 1983 comedy that is about as predictable and generic as its title and the stars definitely deserve better.The film stars Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen as Jason and Phoebe, a pair of writers who start writing together and become a very successful writing team while fighting an attraction to each other, despite the fact that they're married to other people.I don't know what even moved me to review this film because this was one of my most forgettable experiences at the movies. Arthur Hiller's pedestrian direction does no justice to Bernard Slade's screenplay, based on his own play. It's amazing that a playwright actually came up with such a dull movie about playwrights.The fact that Moore and Steenburgen have little or no chemistry with each other or with Janet Eiber and Ron Leibman, who play their respective spouses, who are both in deep denial about the fact that their married to people who are not really in love with them.I'm trying to think of something positive to say in a way of recommending this film, but I'm drawing a blank. Only hardcore Moore and Steenburgen fans should even bother.
var-1
Having seen Mary Steenburgen in the Butcher's Wife, I wanted so see what else she's done. The library had this film with Dudley Moore. Since I liked his work, I thought this would be a good flick. I was disappointed. The actors were ok, but the script was very thin and had to much patch work. The ending was dragged out poorly. The humor was generally good and was delivered well by the actors. This was the only saving grace for this movie.
Hermit C-2
I've never quite understood why this movie has so bad a reputation. It's not Tracy and Hepburn, to be sure, but I found Dudley Moore a lot more likable in this than I usually do and Mary Steenburgen is great, I think. It should appeal to those who like Neil Simon and movies set in the Manhattan theatre world. There's some funny stuff here and there and I thought the characters were agreeable. 'Romantic Comedy' is certainly no classic for the ages but I think that people who enjoy the genre in the title should like it.