Funny About Love

Funny About Love

Gene Wilder has a confused look on his face as an infant sits on his head holding a clock

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Leonard Nimoy
Produced by Jon Avnet
Jordan Kerner
Written by Norman Steinberg
David Frankel
Based on "Convention of the Love Goddesses" in Esquire Magazine 
by {{{2}}} by Bob Greene
Starring Gene Wilder
Christine Lahti
Mary Stuart Masterson
Music by Miles Goodman
Cinematography Fred Murphy
Edited by Peter E. Berger
Production
company
Duffy Films
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release dates
  • September 21, 1990
Running time
101 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Box office $8,141,292[2]

Funny About Love is a 1990 American romantic comedy film directed by Leonard Nimoy and starring Gene Wilder. With a screenplay by Norman Steinberg and David Frankel, the film is based on the article "Convention of the Love Goddesses" in Esquire Magazine by Bob Greene.[3]

Plot

New York cartoonist Duffy Bergman marries gourmet chef Meg Lloyd. Meg wants to have a baby. Duffy agrees, but after unsuccessful attempts, Duffy encourages her to focus on her career and come back to the child issue later. After his mother's death, however, Duffy becomes fixated on wanting to have a child. Meg no longer sees this as a priority, as she's trying to open her own restaurant. The two start to have marital problems, leading to a separation.

Duffy travels to Arizona to speak at a Delta Gamma sorority convention. He explains that the Delta Gammas have always been his dream girls—his Love Goddesses. There he meets the much younger Daphne Delillo, and when she moves to New York to work as a network sports reporter, their attraction develops into a relationship. Daphne becomes pregnant. Duffy is happy to father a child, but uncomfortable with how fast this relationship is progressing. When she has a miscarriage, Daphne breaks up with him, believing that they were really staying in the relationship for the baby.

At his father's wedding, Duffy hears news about Meg and decides to go to her restaurant. He tries to reconcile with her, insisting that he doesn't care if they remain childless as long as he can be with her. Duffy discovers that Meg has adopted a baby boy.

Cast

Release

Box office

Funny About Love opened in 1,213 theaters on September 21, 1990 and grossed $3,036,352 in its opening weekend, landing at #5, behind Goodfellas, Postcards from the Edge '​s second weekend, Ghost '​s eleventh, and Narrow Margin.[4] The film would eventually gross $8,141,292 in the domestic box office.[2]

Critical reception

The film received extremely negative reviews; based on 7 reviews, the film has a 0% rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.[5]

Janet Maslin of the New York Times found the film average.

Infertility, divorce and loneliness shape the rambling plot, but they somehow do little to make the film substantial...... Once the film settles down to follow Duffy and Meg in their eager efforts to conceive a baby, it develops at least some recognizable emotional content.[6]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times had nothing but disdain for the film, giving it only a half of a star rating out of the four stars scale he uses.

Funny About Love provides an opportunity to spend 101 minutes in the presence of the most cloying, inane and annoying dialogue I've heard in many a moon, punctuated only by occasional lapses into startling bad manners.[7]

References

  1. "FUNNY ABOUT LOVE (15)". United International Pictures. British Board of Film Classification. October 26, 1990. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Funny About Love (1990)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-09-07.
  3. Trivia at imdb.com
  4. "Weekend Box Office Results for September 21–23, 1990". Box Office Mojo. 2010-06-09. Retrieved 2010-09-07.
  5. "Funny About Love". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
  6. Maslin, Janet (1990-09-21). "Funny About Love :: nytimes.com :: Reviews". nytimes.com. Retrieved 2010-08-18.
  7. "Funny About Love :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews". Rogerebert.suntimes.com. Retrieved 2010-08-18.

External links