Same Time, Next Year (C- or 2/4 stars)
'Same Time, Next Year' (a 1978 romantic dramedy directed by Robert Mulligan & based on a Broadway play) stars Ellen Burstyn & Alan Alda as an adulterous couple who meet & fall in love in 1951 at California's Sea Shadows Inn; George (Alda), being a 27 yr. old married New Jersey CPA, & Doris (Burstyn), being a 24 yr. old housewife from Oakland, who married at 18. They hit it off so well the 1st time that they decide to secretly meet for their tryst ... the 'same time, next year'. The illicit affair spans some 26 yrs., as we witness every 5 or so yrs. how they grow into middle-age {births, deaths, family tragedies, joys, guilt & growing ideological differences btwn. them due to the Vietnam War} & how America has changed over time.
The neurotic George devolves into a dull, know-it-all businessman, while the meek, reserved Doris changes from 1950s innocence to being a hippie, and then into a fairly successful, ambitious businesswoman. Despite their vast & growing differences & their changing personal beliefs, they still get along better with each other than with anyone else; including their spouses that they're still attached to. We learn that George comes to the inn to do the books of his wine merchant friend; while Doris takes a room at the inn so that her husband can take their 3 kids to visit his mother in Bakersfield. Doris is not welcome there because her mother-in-law still resents her for getting pregnant; causing her son to quit dental school. To all of this I say: who cares!?!?
What might've worked on the Broadway stage does NOT translate onto film, as the action is stage-bound to one main monotonous set & the paper-thin premise makes this movie a thoroughly stagnating experience. Nothing about the script interested me. I found there to be minimal humor. The dialogue is as flat as a pancake. And I wasn't enamored by these adulterous characters in the slightest. Ellen Burstyn received an Academy Award nomination here {along with the script, the too-gauzy cinematography, & a song} and, while I typically love her, she didn't impress me much, here. And I've never been a huge fan of Alan Alda; that didn't change here, either. They couldn't create movie magic for me and, the 2 hour run time felt interminable.
The neurotic George devolves into a dull, know-it-all businessman, while the meek, reserved Doris changes from 1950s innocence to being a hippie, and then into a fairly successful, ambitious businesswoman. Despite their vast & growing differences & their changing personal beliefs, they still get along better with each other than with anyone else; including their spouses that they're still attached to. We learn that George comes to the inn to do the books of his wine merchant friend; while Doris takes a room at the inn so that her husband can take their 3 kids to visit his mother in Bakersfield. Doris is not welcome there because her mother-in-law still resents her for getting pregnant; causing her son to quit dental school. To all of this I say: who cares!?!?
What might've worked on the Broadway stage does NOT translate onto film, as the action is stage-bound to one main monotonous set & the paper-thin premise makes this movie a thoroughly stagnating experience. Nothing about the script interested me. I found there to be minimal humor. The dialogue is as flat as a pancake. And I wasn't enamored by these adulterous characters in the slightest. Ellen Burstyn received an Academy Award nomination here {along with the script, the too-gauzy cinematography, & a song} and, while I typically love her, she didn't impress me much, here. And I've never been a huge fan of Alan Alda; that didn't change here, either. They couldn't create movie magic for me and, the 2 hour run time felt interminable.