That Old Feeling | |
---|---|
Directed by | Carl Reiner |
Written by | Leslie Dixon |
Produced by | Tom Joyner Bonnie Bruckheimer Leslie Dixon |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Steve Mason |
Edited by | Richard Halsey |
Music by | Patrick Williams |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 105 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $16.6 million |
That Old Feeling is a 1997 American romantic comedy film directed by Carl Reiner, his final film as director before his death in 2020. It stars Bette Midler and Dennis Farina.
Molly de Mora (Paula Marshall) invites her divorced parents (Bette Midler and Dennis Farina) to her wedding, where they see each other for the first time in 14 years. During the reception a shouting match between the two ensues. Following this, their spark is rekindled. Over the next few days they fall in love again and run off together, thereby upsetting the newlyweds' honeymoon and their respective (current) spouses. If the scandal was made public it would be more controversial than usual, since the bride's husband hopes to stand for election to Congress. After searching for her parents and getting to know Joey Donna (Danny Nucci), her mother's number one paparazzi nicknamed "The Cockroach", whom she hires to help her find them, Molly decides that her parents deserve a chance to be together and gives them her honeymoon to Hawaii. When Keith objects to her decision, it is revealed that he slept with her stepmother. Knowing now that her marriage was a mistake, Molly runs off with Joey as her parents run off to Hawaii.
It was written by Leslie Dixon, who also wrote Bette Midler's 1987 film Outrageous Fortune . [1] Dixon came up with the idea for That Old Feeling in the early 1990s, after watching her own divorced parents act friendly to each other. [1] She specifically had Midler in mind, [1] who liked the original spec script, but was locked into an exclusive contract with Disney at the time. [1] Because of this, Dixon had to wait several years for Midler to become available before she could proceed with the project. [1] When Dennis Farina got cast as Midler's husband, she rewrote his character as a crime novelist, in order to accommodate his gruff persona. [1]
Paula Marshall and Danny Nucci, whose characters hook up at the end of the film, both ended up divorcing their spouses in 1998, and married each other in October 2003. [2]
That Old Feeling met with mixed reviews from critics, with a 43% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, however 60% of fans like it. [3] The film opened at #4 at the North American box office during April 1997, making $5.1 million USD in its opening weekend. Lawrence Van Gelder gave the film a positive review in The New York Times , calling it a "raucous, high-spirited romantic comedy, which zips along under the direction of Carl Reiner, working from a script by the sharp-witted Leslie Dixon." [4] Los Angeles Times critic John Anderson stated that it was a "very traditional comedy in a surreal sort of way" and "generally fun, thanks to old pros Midler and Farina, and Nucci, who plays Joey as a combination Joe Pesci-Jerry Lewis." [5] Chris Hicks of Deseret News labelled it "[a] anti-family values comedy", and claimed "the film never quite lives up to its first feisty 15 or 20 minutes." [6] The Chicago Tribune's Mark Caro criticized the film, writing, "Instead of focusing on how this couple re-explores their relationship after 14 years of estrangement, the movie scatters its attentions among a group of mostly unpleasant characters. Marshall projects a good-humored sweetness as Molly, but Denton's Keith is a stuffed shirt from the start, which is explained by the easy joke that he's a Republican. Lilly's husband, Alan (David Rasche), is a spineless New Agey therapist, and Dan's wife, Rowena, is a plastic surgery-enhanced shrew portrayed by former NYPD Blue bombshell Gail O'Grady, who's too young to be playing such a gross caricature." [7]
It was subsequently released to VHS on October 7, 1997, [8] and then to DVD on April 28, 1998. [9] In January 1998, Siskel and Ebert included That Old Feeling on their "Worst Films of 1997" episode. [10]
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received numerous accolades, including four Golden Globe Awards, three Grammy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards and a Kennedy Center Honor, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and a British Academy Film Award.
The Rose is a 1979 American musical drama film directed by Mark Rydell, and starring Bette Midler, Alan Bates, Frederic Forrest, Harry Dean Stanton, Barry Primus, and David Keith. Loosely based on the life of Janis Joplin, the film follows a self-destructive rock star in the late 1960s, who struggles to cope with the pressures of her career and the demands of her ruthless business manager.
Beaches is a 1988 American comedy-drama film adapted by Mary Agnes Donoghue and based on Iris Rainer Dart's 1985 novel of the same name. It was directed by Garry Marshall, and stars Bette Midler, Barbara Hershey, Mayim Bialik, John Heard, James Read, Spalding Gray, and Lainie Kazan.
Ruthless People is a 1986 American black comedy film directed by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker and written by Dale Launer. It stars Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Judge Reinhold, Anita Morris, and Helen Slater, with Bill Pullman in a supporting role in his film debut. The film is the story of a couple who kidnap their ex-boss's wife to get revenge and extort money from him. They soon realize he does not want her back and was planning to kill her himself. Meanwhile, the boss's mistress plans a blackmail attempt on him, which also fails to go as planned.
For the Boys is a 1991 American musical comedy-drama film that traces the life of Dixie Leonard, a 1940s actress/singer who teams up with Eddie Sparks, a famous performer, to entertain American troops.
Donaldo Gugliermo "Dennis" Farina was an American stage and film actor, who prior to his acting career worked as a Chicago police detective.
Paula Marshall is an American actress.
Daniel Nucci is an American actor. He is best known for his supporting roles in blockbuster films, including his roles as Danny Rivetti in Crimson Tide (1995), Lieutenant Shepard in The Rock (1996), Deputy Monroe in Eraser (1996), and Fabrizio de Rossi in Titanic (1997), as well as his lead role as Mike Foster in the Freeform series The Fosters (2013–2018).
Outrageous Fortune is a 1987 American comedy film written by Leslie Dixon, directed by Arthur Hiller and starring Shelley Long and Bette Midler. The title is taken from Shakespeare's Hamlet. It is the tenth film of Touchstone Pictures.
Hocus Pocus is a 1993 American Halloween comedy film directed by Kenny Ortega from a screenplay by Mick Garris and Neil Cuthbert, and a story by David Kirschner and Garris. It follows a villainous comedic trio of witches who are inadvertently resurrected by a teenage boy in Salem, Massachusetts, on Halloween night.
Scenes from a Mall is a 1991 American comedy film directed by Paul Mazursky, written by Mazursky and Roger L. Simon, and starring Bette Midler and Woody Allen. The title is a play on Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage, and the film itself features similar themes of marital disintegration.
Leslie Dixon is an American screenwriter and producer.
Mad Dog Time is a 1996 American ensemble crime comedy film written and directed by Larry Bishop and starring Ellen Barkin, Gabriel Byrne, Richard Dreyfuss, Jeff Goldblum and Diane Lane. The film is notable for the various cameo appearances, including the first, and final film appearance by Christopher Jones in over a quarter-century.
Friends & Lovers is a 1999 American romantic-drama film directed and co-written by George Haas about a group of twentysomethings on a ski trip. It stars Stephen Baldwin, Claudia Schiffer and Robert Downey, Jr.
Some of My Best Friends is an American sitcom television series created by Marc Cherry and Tony Vitale, that aired on CBS from February 28 until April 11, 2001. The series was inspired by the film Kiss Me, Guido. The show was cancelled after only five of the seven produced episodes had aired.
Get Shorty is a 1995 American gangster comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and written by Scott Frank, based on Elmore Leonard's novel of the same name. The film stars John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, Delroy Lindo, James Gandolfini, Dennis Farina, and Danny DeVito. It follows Chili Palmer (Travolta), a Miami mobster and loan shark who inadvertently gets involved in Hollywood feature film production.
Stella is a 1990 American drama film produced by The Samuel Goldwyn Company and released by Touchstone Pictures. The screenplay by Robert Getchell is the third feature film adaptation of the 1923 novel Stella Dallas by Olive Higgins Prouty. Previous film versions were Stella Dallas (1937) and the silent film Stella Dallas (1925).
The Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards—first presented in 1977 by the now–Los Angeles chapter of the Women in Film organization—were presented to honor women in communications and media. The awards include the Crystal Award, the Lucy Award, the Dorothy Arzner Directors Award, the MaxMara Face of the Future Award, and the Kodak Vision Award.
Jerry Schaefer is a Canadian actor who is best known for his role as Possum Lake animal control officer Ed Frid on The Red Green Show.
Bonnie Sue Fishman, known professionally as Bonnie Bruckheimer, is an American film and television producer. She has also been known professionally as Bonnie Fishman, Bonnie Martell, and Bonnie Bruckheimer-Martell. She has been nominated for 2 Emmy Awards. In 1985, she and Bette Midler formed their own production company, All Girl Productions, and were producing partners until 2002.