I had seen this movie on television sometime in the middle '70s, when I was in my twenties and had a special fondness for Natalie Wood. I was surprised to see this movie on DVD when I was in the store a few days ago, but I didn't see anything else that I really wanted to watch, and was naturally curious about it, so I rented it.
While far from being a bad movie, "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice" is certainly not what I would consider a good movie. It is a pretentious movie about self-centered, superficial people. The late sixties were a unique period in the twentieth century, when for a short period of a few years, throughout western culture, people were testing the limits of traditional sexual taboos. "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice" tells the story of a middle-aged couple who were caught up in the liberated attitudes of the time, for a brief period at least. When push came to shove, they realized that they preferred the traditional lifestyle.
So what? Does this really make an interesting subject for a feature-length film? In and of itself, it does not. Possibly, a different storyline, similar to this one but not exactly the same as this one, would have been interesting. But this one happens to be dead boring. I sat through the first ten minutes without once touching the fast-forward button. Then I said to myself, "I'll zip past just this part." Next thing I knew, I was fast-forwarding past another part that had just become tiresome, then another, then another, and I had to make myself stop.
I sat through another ten or fifteen minutes thinking that if I tried harder and paid attention, the dialog would become interesting. But I was forced to accept the truth, which is that the dialog in this movie is exceedingly pretentious and boring. All that a movie of this sort has going for it is the dialog. But the dialog in this movie is boring and pretentious.
Back at the time this movie was released, it was interesting because it dealt with social issues that were then current. But that was thirty-five years ago. Persons with a strong curiosity about that period might find this movie interesting, even though this is by no means one of the better movies dealing with that subject matter. Persons with a special interest in the careers of one of the four actors might also find it somewhat interesting, although this movie was a best a footnote on any of their careers.
If you are looking for a movie that conveys a realistic sense of what suburban life was like in that period, there are lots of better choices. The movie, "The Ice Storm", made in 1997 and set in 1973, has similar themes, and it is infinitely more intelligent. Anyone who looks at these two movies side-by-side will surely agree that "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice", while moderately amusing when it was current, has no lasting value.
While far from being a bad movie, "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice" is certainly not what I would consider a good movie. It is a pretentious movie about self-centered, superficial people. The late sixties were a unique period in the twentieth century, when for a short period of a few years, throughout western culture, people were testing the limits of traditional sexual taboos. "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice" tells the story of a middle-aged couple who were caught up in the liberated attitudes of the time, for a brief period at least. When push came to shove, they realized that they preferred the traditional lifestyle.
So what? Does this really make an interesting subject for a feature-length film? In and of itself, it does not. Possibly, a different storyline, similar to this one but not exactly the same as this one, would have been interesting. But this one happens to be dead boring. I sat through the first ten minutes without once touching the fast-forward button. Then I said to myself, "I'll zip past just this part." Next thing I knew, I was fast-forwarding past another part that had just become tiresome, then another, then another, and I had to make myself stop.
I sat through another ten or fifteen minutes thinking that if I tried harder and paid attention, the dialog would become interesting. But I was forced to accept the truth, which is that the dialog in this movie is exceedingly pretentious and boring. All that a movie of this sort has going for it is the dialog. But the dialog in this movie is boring and pretentious.
Back at the time this movie was released, it was interesting because it dealt with social issues that were then current. But that was thirty-five years ago. Persons with a strong curiosity about that period might find this movie interesting, even though this is by no means one of the better movies dealing with that subject matter. Persons with a special interest in the careers of one of the four actors might also find it somewhat interesting, although this movie was a best a footnote on any of their careers.
If you are looking for a movie that conveys a realistic sense of what suburban life was like in that period, there are lots of better choices. The movie, "The Ice Storm", made in 1997 and set in 1973, has similar themes, and it is infinitely more intelligent. Anyone who looks at these two movies side-by-side will surely agree that "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice", while moderately amusing when it was current, has no lasting value.