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Forget Paris
Billy Crystal produced, directed, co-wrote and starred in Forget Paris, a richly entertaining romantic comedy from 1995, which borrows from past romantic comedies but Crystal definitely puts his own stamp on the proceedings, providing what moviegoers expect from a romantic comedy.
Crystal plays Mickey, an NBA referee who travels to Paris to bury his father and meets a vivacious airline executive named Ellen (Debra Winger), when the airline loses Micky's father's body. Sparks fly after a romantic week in Paris but Mickey's work forces him to return to LA, though he can't stop thinking about Ellen. Ellen impulsively quits her job in Paris and moves back to LA and agrees to marry Micky but the road to happiness is a very bumpy one for the couple. Most of the bumps come from their careers and their attempts to have children.
Crystal provides a very clever Woody Allen-ish type hook upon which the story unfolds. Mickey's best friend, Andy (Joe Mantegna) is getting married and he and his fiancee (Cynthia Stevenson) meet at a restaurant with other married friends of Mickey (Richard Masure, Julie Kavner, John Spencer, Cathy Moriarty) where they take turns telling Mickey and Ellen's story to Andy's fiancee while waiting for Mickey and Ellen to join the party.
The screenplay by Crystal, Lowell Ganz, and Babaloo Mandel, who also collaborated on the Crystal comedy City Slickers and its sequel, have crafted a sweet and funny story that is rich with Crystal's humor...the dialogue often moves at breakneck speed and doesn't allow the viewer to finish one laugh before another one approaches, and despite some obvious inspiration from films like Annie Hall and another Crystal classic When Harry Met Sally, this story stands on its own as a singular Crystal creation.
Crystal lets a couple of story elements get away from him...the story spends a little more time than necessary setting up Mickey's occupation, which I think was just a way to allow Crystal to spend more time onscreen with his NBA idols. There are a couple of scenes with Ellen's senile father (William Hickey) that bring the film to a halt. The story also gets a little one-sided...there are certain points in the story where the story sets up Ellen as the villain of the piece, but both characters equally contribute bumps to this relationship, but it's Crystal's movie...I did love the way Crystal worked the title of the movie into the screenplay three separate times in three separate contexts.
The most pleasant surprise about this movie was the chemistry between Billy Crystal and Debra Winger, which is hard to imagine just seeing their names together on a marquee, but the relationship totally works. It actually rivals his work with Meg Ryan and Winger gives one of her loveliest and most engaging performances here. Mantegna, Stevenson, Masur, and Kavner are a lot of fun as our narrators and, thanks to Mickey's profession, we get cameos from Kareem Abdul Jabar, Charles Barkley, Marv Albert, Bill Walton, Patrick Ewing, and Reggie Miller. A bouquet for the lovely location shooting in the City of Lights too. For all the hats Crystal was wearing for this production, this works surprisingly well.
Billy Crystal produced, directed, co-wrote and starred in Forget Paris, a richly entertaining romantic comedy from 1995, which borrows from past romantic comedies but Crystal definitely puts his own stamp on the proceedings, providing what moviegoers expect from a romantic comedy.
Crystal plays Mickey, an NBA referee who travels to Paris to bury his father and meets a vivacious airline executive named Ellen (Debra Winger), when the airline loses Micky's father's body. Sparks fly after a romantic week in Paris but Mickey's work forces him to return to LA, though he can't stop thinking about Ellen. Ellen impulsively quits her job in Paris and moves back to LA and agrees to marry Micky but the road to happiness is a very bumpy one for the couple. Most of the bumps come from their careers and their attempts to have children.
Crystal provides a very clever Woody Allen-ish type hook upon which the story unfolds. Mickey's best friend, Andy (Joe Mantegna) is getting married and he and his fiancee (Cynthia Stevenson) meet at a restaurant with other married friends of Mickey (Richard Masure, Julie Kavner, John Spencer, Cathy Moriarty) where they take turns telling Mickey and Ellen's story to Andy's fiancee while waiting for Mickey and Ellen to join the party.
The screenplay by Crystal, Lowell Ganz, and Babaloo Mandel, who also collaborated on the Crystal comedy City Slickers and its sequel, have crafted a sweet and funny story that is rich with Crystal's humor...the dialogue often moves at breakneck speed and doesn't allow the viewer to finish one laugh before another one approaches, and despite some obvious inspiration from films like Annie Hall and another Crystal classic When Harry Met Sally, this story stands on its own as a singular Crystal creation.
Crystal lets a couple of story elements get away from him...the story spends a little more time than necessary setting up Mickey's occupation, which I think was just a way to allow Crystal to spend more time onscreen with his NBA idols. There are a couple of scenes with Ellen's senile father (William Hickey) that bring the film to a halt. The story also gets a little one-sided...there are certain points in the story where the story sets up Ellen as the villain of the piece, but both characters equally contribute bumps to this relationship, but it's Crystal's movie...I did love the way Crystal worked the title of the movie into the screenplay three separate times in three separate contexts.
The most pleasant surprise about this movie was the chemistry between Billy Crystal and Debra Winger, which is hard to imagine just seeing their names together on a marquee, but the relationship totally works. It actually rivals his work with Meg Ryan and Winger gives one of her loveliest and most engaging performances here. Mantegna, Stevenson, Masur, and Kavner are a lot of fun as our narrators and, thanks to Mickey's profession, we get cameos from Kareem Abdul Jabar, Charles Barkley, Marv Albert, Bill Walton, Patrick Ewing, and Reggie Miller. A bouquet for the lovely location shooting in the City of Lights too. For all the hats Crystal was wearing for this production, this works surprisingly well.