Review of Only the Lonely

It was a grand and inspired move from writer-director Chris Columbus to bring Maureen O'Hara back to the screen in a modern-day romantic comedy, playing the feisty, hen-pecking mother of an unmarried Chicago cop--but that's where Columbus' good ideas run aground. O'Hara's steely looks and angry outbursts are wonderful, and she's quite comfortable acting alongside John Candy as her son, yet this script is so thin it has to rely on mean-spirited fantasy and dumb, time-worn slapstick and insults to pad its running-time. The Chicago sites and neighborhoods aren't really captured with any flavor (the city never comes to life), and James Belushi just gets in the way as the proverbial best friend. Candy does some nice work, and Ally Sheedy (as Candy's new girlfriend from the local funeral parlor) works hard to give the love story a quirky bounce, but the results are a near-miss. ** from ****