| Town and Country |
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USA, 2001. Rated R. 114 minutes.
Cast: Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton,
Goldie Hawn, Garry Shandling, Andie MacDowell, Jenna Elfman, Nastassja
Kinski, Charlton Heston, Josh Hartnett, Tricia Vessey, Marc Casabani,
Marian Seldes
Writers: Michael Laughlin & Buck Henry
Music: Rolfe Kent, J.J. Holiday (song "Preachin' the Blues")
Cinematographer: William A. Fraker
Producers: Simon Fields, Andrew S. Karsch, Fred Roos
Director: Peter Chelsom
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Town and Country, screen vets Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Garry Shandling,
and Warren Beatty prove they still have some comedy chops, but writers Michael
Laughlin and Buck Henry prove they don't deserve to be writing for them. The
result is a occasionally pleasant diversion with obvious conflicts and plot
twists, and as many groaners as laughers.
The foursome show off their full repertoires of by-now-familiar comic mannerisms
as two unsympathetically well-off couples in healthy, long-lasting marriages,
except that both men are having affairs. When Griffin (Shandling) is caught
cheating by his wife Mona (Hawn), Ellie (Keaton) reacts with sanctimonious shock,
and her husband, Porter (Beatty) uneasily plays along as his own life begins
to spin out of control. The laughs come not from Porter's farcical efforts to
conceal his own affair (which are blessedly minimal), but from Porter's increasing
discomfort with the contrast between reality and everyone's perception of him
as the most reliable, steady family man in the history of human relationships.
Eventually, without any real sense of purpose or conviction, Town and Country
reaches the conclusion that comedies about philandering usually reach. The resolution
incorporates the obligatory speech, of course.
Displaying his trademark mildly befuddled self-absorption, Beatty makes an
engaging lead. He's eight to twelve years older than his three co-stars, but
he's so well-preserved that it's easy to believe he's 55 instead of 64. He's
the lead actor by default, because Town and Country doesn't stick with
its other plot lines. For example, Ellie and her children's efforts to cope
with the truth about Porter are only briefly touched upon. Similarly, the tension
between Griffin's affair and marriage, a potentially interesting conflict for
reasons best left for viewers to discover, isn't explored beyond how it affects
and reflects on Porter. Garry Shandling is therefore underused. He has raised
his portrayal of oblivious self-centeredness to an art form in productions like
What Planet Are You From? and HBO's The Larry Sanders Show, but
he doesn't get to do what he does best in Town and Country.
Instead, the movie takes a number of detours involving supporting actresses
Andie MacDowell, Jenna Elfman, and Nastassja Kinski, (starring collectively
as Attractive Women Who Throw Themselves at Warren Beatty), as well as a gratuitous
appearance as a gun-wielding oddball by NRA president Charlton Heston. It's
not enough that Heston has become a parody of himself; he is now reduced to
playing roles that parody his own parody. In time, he'll be playing parodies
of his parody's parody, and then we'll all be very confused. The razor-sharp
raunchy barbs exchanged by Heston's, uh, character and his wheelchair-bound
wife (Marian Seldes) provide some laughs, but the whole Heston episode amounts
to an all-out farce that clashes badly with the lighter humor of the rest of
the film.
Had Town and Country been a modest production with unknown actors, it
might have been considered a lukewarm success--maybe. But as a $90 million-or-so
production with an A-list cast, it's almost another Ishtar. Unlike Ishtar,
Beatty didn't produce Town and Country, so it's not his fault. It's not
any of the actors' faults. Blame Laughlin and Henry. Or, since at least Henry
(The Graduate, To Die For, Protocol, What's Up Doc?) has quality scripts
on his resume, perhaps we should blame the nondescript direction and slipshod
film editing, which fail to draw out any of the conflicts in an interesting
way and leave the distinct impression that large parts of the story are missing.
Or, better yet, blame nobody. There's not much of a reason to care whose fault
it is.
Review
© May 2001 by AboutFilm.Com and the author.
Images © 2000 2001 New Line Productions, Inc. All rights reserved.
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