Film editor Robert Cole (Albert Brooks) having broken up with his girlfriend Mary Harvard (Kathryn Harrold) yet again decides to reinvent himself by focusing on the B-rate space opera he's editing for American International Pictures, taking up jogging, and throwing himself in the dating scene. However, Robert begins feeling regret at his decision and tries to get back together with Mary only for his jealousy and paranoia to get in the way.
The second feature from Writer/Director Albert Brooks, Modern Romance while technically a "romantic comedy", fits that definition by way of the neurotic approach coined by Woody Allen's films such as Manhattan and Annie Hall. Featuring a couple who are in a repeated cycle of ending and reconciling their relationship, Brooks crafts a wickedly funny take on two people who are wrong for each other yet keep coming back together.
The movie speaks to a lot of those petty insecurities we've either experienced ourselves and seen in others as well as the overly forgiving "well maybe this time it'll be different" mindset that is the breeding ground of many bad decisions. From ill defined grievances to overcompensating attempts at making up that only serve to be undermined by poorly thought through interrogatives, Brooks creates a couple who have chemistry, but the audience REALLY doesn't want them to.
The movie also features some solid comedy and character outside of its core examination of a relationship that doesn't work, with a subplot about Robert dealing with the inane requests of the director whose film he's editing, ably played by James L. Brooks before his breakout with Terms of Endearment. The sheer ridiculousness Robert puts up with from the director's request such as "thumpier stomps" in a corridor chase are quite funny especially with how the get the effects. There's also some solid work with Brooks' brother Bob Einstein playing a pushy sports equipment salesman.
Modern Romance is an uncomfortable sit in many places, but it's a funny and insightful uncomfortable sit. With fleshed out characters and an unapologetic portrayal of a couple that just shouldn't be together, it's a guarantee for awkward and uncomfortable laughs.
The second feature from Writer/Director Albert Brooks, Modern Romance while technically a "romantic comedy", fits that definition by way of the neurotic approach coined by Woody Allen's films such as Manhattan and Annie Hall. Featuring a couple who are in a repeated cycle of ending and reconciling their relationship, Brooks crafts a wickedly funny take on two people who are wrong for each other yet keep coming back together.
The movie speaks to a lot of those petty insecurities we've either experienced ourselves and seen in others as well as the overly forgiving "well maybe this time it'll be different" mindset that is the breeding ground of many bad decisions. From ill defined grievances to overcompensating attempts at making up that only serve to be undermined by poorly thought through interrogatives, Brooks creates a couple who have chemistry, but the audience REALLY doesn't want them to.
The movie also features some solid comedy and character outside of its core examination of a relationship that doesn't work, with a subplot about Robert dealing with the inane requests of the director whose film he's editing, ably played by James L. Brooks before his breakout with Terms of Endearment. The sheer ridiculousness Robert puts up with from the director's request such as "thumpier stomps" in a corridor chase are quite funny especially with how the get the effects. There's also some solid work with Brooks' brother Bob Einstein playing a pushy sports equipment salesman.
Modern Romance is an uncomfortable sit in many places, but it's a funny and insightful uncomfortable sit. With fleshed out characters and an unapologetic portrayal of a couple that just shouldn't be together, it's a guarantee for awkward and uncomfortable laughs.