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The Films of Paul Mazursky

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice

Alex in Wonderland

Blume in Love

Harry and Tonto

Next Stop, Greenwich Village

An Unmarried Woman (January 28/06)

Though An Unmarried Woman is generally well acted and occasionally insightful, the movie is ultimately undone by a thoroughly dated, anachronistic aura (the sluggish pace doesn't help matters, certainly). Jill Clayburgh stars as Erica, an upper-crust Manhattanite who must adjust to the single life after her husband (Michael Murphy) leaves her for a younger woman. The film, written and directed by Paul Mazursky, is overflowing with cynical, overly verbose characters that just aren't compelling - something that's true even of Clayburgh's Erica, who comes off as obnoxious and pampered. Mazursky's polished dialogue contributes to the feeling of inauthenticity, a vibe that's compounded by Clayburgh's grating, mannered performance. Finally, somewhere around the midway point, Alan Bates pops up as a potential suitor for Erica and injects some much-needed life into the proceedings - but his admittedly engaging performance simply isn't enough to compensate for the film's various deficiencies (including Bill Conti's wildly intrusive score).

out of

Willie & Phil

Tempest

Moscow on the Hudson

Down and Out in Beverly Hills

Moon Over Parador

Enemies: A Love Story

Scenes from a Mall (June 18/15)

Scenes from a Mall casts Woody Allen and Bette Midler as Nick and Deborah Fifer, a married couple whose innocuous trip to a nearby shopping mall takes an increasingly disastrous turn following a series of personal revelations. It's a thin premise that's employed to progressively lackluster effect by filmmaker Paul Mazursky, which is a shame, really, given that the movie does open with a fair amount of promise - as the stars' affable work is heightened by their genuine chemistry with one another (ie it's not difficult to swallow that Nick and Deborah have been married for 16 years). The couple's initial arrival at the title locale is handled relatively well by Mazursky and the back-and-forth banter between Allen and Midler's respective characters is generally compelling, and yet there reaches a point at which Scenes from a Mall begins to palpably run out of steam - with the film's second half adopting a repetitive vibe that grows more and more problematic as time progresses. It does, as a result, become awfully difficult to work up any interest in the protagonists' on-again-off-again exploits, and there's little doubt that the movie loses its grip on the viewer long before the somewhat anticlimactic finale rolls around.

out of

The Pickle

Faithful

Winchell

Coast to Coast

Yippee

© David Nusair