leeper@mtgzy.att.com (Mark R. Leeper) (02/06/91)
ONCE AROUND
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Boston Italian family has its problems
when their daughter brings home as a lover a flashy, boorish
salesman. Salesman overpowers the family and tests the
strength of relationships. Comedy-drama has more to it than
it may at first seem. Rating: +2 (-4 to +4).
The Bellas are a closely-knit Italian family living near Boston. They
have little oddities but they accept each other and as a family they work.
Then Renata (played by Holly Hunter) breaks up with her boyfriend and
decides she wants to sell condos for a living. She goes to a sales class in
St. Martin and brings back a lover. Sam (played by Richard Dreyfus) is an
over-ripe salesman with a phenomenal sales record and some odd Lithuanian
ways. Sam is welcomed into the family with a big smile that wilts when he
is not looking. He simply does not fit it. He upstages family members with
extravangances and he overpowers family events with the subtlety of sales
pep rallies. As time passes the pressures increase until the family is
seriously in danger of splitting up. Is Sam a genuinely destructive force
or is the real problem in the family's unwillingness to accept a newcomer
who is do different from themselves?
ONCE AROUND is directed by Lasse Hallstrom, the Swede who directed MY
LIFE AS A DOG. Like Louis Malle, Hallstrom has insights into American life
that an American director might miss. By the same token, however, he misses
details such as the inappropriateness of Hunter's accent. She is the main
character and she could have really used an accent coach. Dreyfus is,
however, well-cast, if not too much differently from his role in TIN MEN and
even THE APPRENTICESHIP OF DUDDY KRAVITZ. The casting of Laura San Giacomo
and Gena Rowlands as Renata's sister and mother are both fine. Especially
good is Danny Aiello as Renata's father Joe. Much of the friction that
makes the story is between the Dreyfus character and the Aiello character.
Joe Bella goes through a lot of changes in the course of the film and Aiello
is a joy to watch. Also notable is co-producer Griffin Dunne as Renata's
boyfriend.
Hallstrom has a good eye for the small dramatic incidents of life and
also the daily ironies. While the film is largely about Sam's
idiosyncrasies, it takes at least one meaning of its title, ONCE AROUND,
from a strange custom of Joe Bella: on important family occasions he
traditionally drives around a traffic rotary. But for a little heavy-handed
melodrama toward the end, this is a nice comedy-drama worth seeing. I give
it a +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
att!mtgzy!leeper
leeper@mtgzy.att.comeggimann@maxzilla.encore.com (Scott Eggimann) (02/20/91)
ONCE AROUND
A film review by Scott T. Eggimann
Copyright 1991 Scott T. Eggimann
Capsule review: A well-done movie about relationships and
fitting in. A movie that makes you think about relationships,
love, life, death, family change, and just about every other
human emotion. Rating: +2 (-4 to +4); worth the full price to
see.
Richard Dreyfus and Holly Hunter reunite again as lovers. Their
last meeting was in the 1989 hit ALWAYS. These two have a chemistry
between them that lets us get carried up in their love for each other.
These two are fun to watch together; Dreyfus always seems to be running
around out of control while Hunter in contrast, seems to be calm and in
control of her life. We never doubt their feelings for each other.
Sam Sharpe (Richard Dreyfus) plays a successful condo salesman who
never really fits into the Bella family. Although he tries, he never
grasps when to leave well enough alone. Dreyfus as the stereotypical
salesman, interacts so well with everyone in the cast, everyone is
effected by him. Whether positively or negatively, he does effect
everyone in the movie. As the family's feelings toward Sam changed, my
feelings changed with them. Is this the director conveying these
feelings to me or is it Dreyfus? I think that it's Dreyfus as an actor.
And what is it about Holly Hunter that is so appealing? Hunter is
so captivating that one wants to jump up into the movie and hug her.
Hunter plays Renata Bella, the youngest daughter to Joe (Danny Aiello)
and [I cannot remember her first name] (Gena Rowlands) Bella. Renata's
life is in a state of disarray when we meet her. She's looking for a
career and her longtime lover fails to commit to her. We cannot but
help to feel sorry for her.
The action between Joe and Sam is what makes this movie funny. Two
strong-willed men fighting for control of the family and ultimately
Renata. The friction between them is fueled by the fact that both men
are both very eccentric. Each has their strange and sometimes humorous
ethnic customs that they strictly follow, even when circumstances do not
permit the continuance of the outdated custom. In fact the funniest
parts of this film are the two men acting out their customs, and the
others ability to deal with the annoyance.
The satisfying part of the movie is we get to see everyone change.
After all, it is change that is the only constant in life, we'd better
deal with it somehow. Although the Bella family is slow and somewhat
reluctant to change, the strength of the family unity is tested and
ultimately strong enough to withstand the highly eccentric Sam.
Ironically, it is Sam who does the least amount of changing.
A strong theme throughout this movie (more strongly in the
beginning than in the end) is that you can never return home. Renata
returns home after she breaks up with her first lover. The problems
begin when she brings Sam home. I always liked Sam, after all he is
trying to please everybody; he doesn't have a bad bone in his body. I
had a problem with the Bella's hesitation to accept Sam, and Renata's
happiness.
The movie did seem to drag on for a while in the middle, probably
because of lack of a plot. Overall I enjoyed the movie, and I would
probably see it again. I couldn't help but compare Joe and Sam to
Archie Bunker and Mike in "All in the Family". On many levels Joe and
Archie are very similar; they both have eccentric habits and are
reluctant to accept their daughter's lover; Sam and Mike keep on living
uneffected by their father-in-law's actions and they don't seem to care
what is thought about them. Joe is no Archie Bunker though, in the end
Joe realizes his daughter's happiness and accepts Sam for who he is.
Maybe we can all learn something from Joe Bella.