Funny About Love

Dir: Leonard Nimoy

1990

***

Funny About Love is based on an Esquire article written by Bob Greene in the late 80's titled "Convention of the Love Goddesses" that was based on his experiences after being asked to speak at the national convention of the Delta Gamma sorority. While Gene Wilder's character does speak at said convention, the rest of the film is a muddled and rather odd mess that is, according the producer Jon Avnet, "an exploration of a man's relationship with the women in his life". The problem is that in what is supposed to be a very real look at adult relationships, turns into a weird and rather cringe-worthy middle-aged man's fantasy that doesn't sit well, it certainly didn't with audiences and critics in 1990. Gene Wilder plays a satirical cartoonist called Duffy who seems wealthy and relatively care-free. He meets a young (seventeen years younger in fact) caterer called Meg (played by Christine Lahti) at a signing event who makes terrible cappuccino, and then falls in love with her within a couple of minutes. Within a few months they marry and try for children but due to his warm sperm and her inhabitable womb, they are both unable to conceive, so they split with no real convincing feeling that they should, especially as neither of them were convincing in wanting a child in the first place. Duffy's mother is killed by a falling piano and his father remarries within a couple of days. Meg goes from caterer to famous chief within a couple of weeks and Duffy flies to Arizona for the national convention of the Delta Gamma sorority and begins an affair with a girl thirty-three years younger than him. It's not creepy, though, he is at a loss after losing both wife and mother. At least that seems to be the reasoning behind it, the truth is that it is all very cringe-worthy and my toes hurt after they automatically curled up as far as they could during various unnecessary sec scenes. The humour is incredibly misjudged, Wilder's character is insulting and spoiled and very unlike Wilder and everyone else is just a stooge and an idiot when placed next to him. The conclusion is meant to be 'happy ever after' but in reality it is more 'how, what and why and what again'. It's nonsense, ridiculous and rather insulting. So why the hell have I given it three stars? Apart from the fact that it's my page and I can do what I like, I think it's down to the fact that I didn't hate the film and I'd rather watch Gene Wilder be a little rude to someone than watch any current actor be nice. I love the 1980s nonsense idea that everyone lives in a trendy apartment, have interesting jobs and can pretty much do whatever they like. I like the way films were lit in the 80's, I liked the cheesy soundtracks and the clothes etc. I love Gene Wilder, even when he's given the worst script that has ever been written. I can't help it, Funny About Love is an awful film, but I quite liked it.