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A NIGHT IN HEAVEN
Seven years after winning an Oscar for directing Rocky, John G. Avildsen tried to make his way into John Hughes/Chris Columbus territory with an alleged romantic comedy called A Night in Heaven, which beyond a wonderful performance from its leading lady, offers nothing surprising or original.
The 1983 film stars Lesley Ann Warren as Faye Hanlon, a married community college professor who is neglected by her space engineer husband (Robert Hogan) and has just flunked a student of hers named Ricky Monroe (Christopher Atkins) on his final exam in her class.
Faye's sister (Deborah Rush) decides that her sexually repressed sister needs an evening out with the girls and they end up at a strip club called Heaven and, to Faye's shock and surprise, as well as our own, Ricky turns out to be the headliner at the club dancing under the name "Ricky the Rocket" and when Ricky discovers Teach in the audience, it is Faye who wants to head for the hills not Ricky and it is the beginning of a dogged pursuit of the woman, despite the fact that she is married, even if the marriage isn't a perfect one.
Screenwriter Joan Tewkesbury's screenplay is rather unimaginative, made even more snore inducing by the less than uninteresting subplot of Faye's husband's unhappiness with his work. which we just don't care about, primarily due to Logan's lifeless performance in the role. Christopher Atkins is pretty and looks great in various states of undress but then he starts reciting lines.
What does work here is a superb performance from Lesley Ann Warren as Faye. Warren brings more substance to this role than what's written, showing us a woman whose sexuality has been dormant for longer than she cares to admit and finds it being awakened from a very unlikely source. If not for Warren and Deborah Rush as her sister, this film would have been a crashing bore...can't believe this is from the same guy who directed Rocky, but fans of Lesley Ann Warren should definitely check it out.
Seven years after winning an Oscar for directing Rocky, John G. Avildsen tried to make his way into John Hughes/Chris Columbus territory with an alleged romantic comedy called A Night in Heaven, which beyond a wonderful performance from its leading lady, offers nothing surprising or original.
The 1983 film stars Lesley Ann Warren as Faye Hanlon, a married community college professor who is neglected by her space engineer husband (Robert Hogan) and has just flunked a student of hers named Ricky Monroe (Christopher Atkins) on his final exam in her class.
Faye's sister (Deborah Rush) decides that her sexually repressed sister needs an evening out with the girls and they end up at a strip club called Heaven and, to Faye's shock and surprise, as well as our own, Ricky turns out to be the headliner at the club dancing under the name "Ricky the Rocket" and when Ricky discovers Teach in the audience, it is Faye who wants to head for the hills not Ricky and it is the beginning of a dogged pursuit of the woman, despite the fact that she is married, even if the marriage isn't a perfect one.
Screenwriter Joan Tewkesbury's screenplay is rather unimaginative, made even more snore inducing by the less than uninteresting subplot of Faye's husband's unhappiness with his work. which we just don't care about, primarily due to Logan's lifeless performance in the role. Christopher Atkins is pretty and looks great in various states of undress but then he starts reciting lines.
What does work here is a superb performance from Lesley Ann Warren as Faye. Warren brings more substance to this role than what's written, showing us a woman whose sexuality has been dormant for longer than she cares to admit and finds it being awakened from a very unlikely source. If not for Warren and Deborah Rush as her sister, this film would have been a crashing bore...can't believe this is from the same guy who directed Rocky, but fans of Lesley Ann Warren should definitely check it out.