The Story of Us (1999)

Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer are Ben and Katie Jordan in `The Story of Us', Rob Reiner's latest directorial effort. The Jordans have been married for 15 years and have reached a turning point in their relationship. Authors Alan Zweibel and Jesse Nelson explore the past and present of the couple in a mosaic of vignettes throughout the years they have been together. There are scenes of joy, laughter, anger and frustration. The film basically takes place in the present as the teenage son and daughter leave for summer camp. The couple decides to separate during the summer vacation to re-evaluate their situation and spare the children any suffering. The scenes jump back and forth revealing the deterioration and lack of any real communication in their day to day life. Zweibel explained in an interview that the screenplay was somewhat autobiographical, but when he realized the script was somewhat one-sided (male) he joined with Jesse Nelson to rewrite the script and deliver a more realistic and even-handed reflection of the marriage. They are fairly successful. However, Willis' Ben seems to be the more sympathetic of the two. In one scene Ben has just begun dinner out with his two best friends,a married couple played warmly and humorously by Rob Reiner and Rita Wilson. In a loud eruption of anger and resentment he voices his emotions disrupting the quiet tone of the restaurant. He leaves the table and paces outside on the street. In this tenderly revealing scene Willis, without a word, shows the life-shattering trauma he is going through. Willis has developed into a fine and subtly sensitive actor. Just when the audience thinks all of its sympathies are on Ben's side, Katie has a 3-minute monologue in which she spews out her reactions to all that has happened. Pfeiffer's performance here is also a tour de force. If only what has come before had the power of these two sequences. Eric Clapton's music effectively underscores the highs and lows, his song quietly framing the beginning and ending of the film. Married folks will definitely identify with this couple. One could hear the sounds of recognition from the audience at the screening I attended. It remains to be seen if this story will attract and entertain a wide range of moviegoers.

Fmovies: I can't lie. I had never even heard of the movie before me and my wife borrowed the movie from her aunt, because we had just moved and our cable wasn't on yet. Anyway, it's been a long time since I've last seen the movie but it's had a lasting effect(positive) on my marriage. We have been trying to get our hands on an another copy of the movie, because our last copy got messed up. But as we watched the movie, we saw ourselves in the movie. We haven't been married for 15 years but we've been through some of the things that they've been through. We were amazed at how they were able to keep everything together even at separating for that short time. It even opened my eyes to a few things that I need to do, and yes this is coming from a husband. But whoever says that this movie stinks or was lackluster needs to have their head examined or they haven't experienced those types of situations in their marriages. This is the type of movie that can be deeply appreciated. I know it's a movie, but it is much more than that if you've experienced even just a little of the trouble that they had in it.

This is a pretty film, often poignant, and a bit too close to the bone at times for my liking. Still, it carries you along quite nicely - making it's point that time grinds marriages down more often than affairs - and then sort of stops.

The leads were great: Willis was really good, Pfeiffer was fantastic (hey, i'm a fan, okay). But, the characters were tough to take. The self-pity was intercut with nice bits of comedy, but it felt like Reiner was cutting from a wake to a pratt-fall on occasions.

The final scenes, with Pfeiffer's frightening display of multi-emotional skill (at once excellent and utterly ghastly), betrayed the characters. Normality was implausibly resumed, and Pfeiffer came across as at fault for taking the whole film to get real, and Willis looked much relieved that she'd taken the sanity pill and he could quit trying to change himself.

And the end was a surprise. I thought there was going to be more: a deeper level of story. But it ended without a sense of closure.

The Story of Us fmovies. Okay, let's set the stage: I hate Lifetime movies for their poor acting, cheesy scripts, lack of realism, and ridiculous soap-opera style plots and "emotions." (And I just ain't into all that Kleenex.) Can't stand mush and not much on tearjerkers. But I truly can't relate with those saying this was an awful movie. I laughed my tail off! Hilarious! So real (well, for the most part); you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll hold your breath, you'll just want more. The "moments" were very real and well-done and I agree that Willis and Pfeiffer rendered stellar performances. It WAS a romantic comedy. (Did YOU see it?!) Such a well-written script and excellently directed. Virtually no complaints from start to finish. (Although, admittedly, I watched an "edited" version and missed all the language.)

Anyone who's been married any length of time (and especially for a number of years) will appreciate the reality and depth of emotion and meaning in this poignant movie. Sense of humor required.

Totally worth seeing again and again!

This movie holds so much truth; it cannot possibly be watched by anyone, man or woman who are or who have been in a serious relationship without any such crying at some point during it, or at least being strongly enough emotionally affected to do so. I cried. I cried before the opening credits song was more than a few lines in. It spoke to me like few movies have. It is the first movie about the subject of love that I've watched since I became this involved, physically and emotionally with my wife-to-be. That alone makes the movie have an impact on me, good or not. That it dealt with a subject that has so recently become so important to me. A successful marriage. But while I was this into the film, while it had this impact on me... I can't claim that it was great. The performances are. The editing is. The script is. Most of the parts are. But somehow, the sum, it just doesn't add up to being that... great. It might be that the ending feels flat. It might be that the movie offers no answers, only observations. The movie goes back and forth between present day chaos/unhappiness and fond memories... these were particularly difficult to watch without crying. This works to the film's advantage and creates a sense of more than a non-linear time-line; a life-time, years upon years of memories returning to this old married couple. The story of two people who love each other... they do. They've just tired of each other, of the differences, of the arguing. Comes very close to being great, but it just doesn't quite make it, I'm afraid. Worth watching for any fans of the genre, and has plenty of insights to offer. I recommend this to anyone who is or has been in a serious relationship. 6/10

Bruce and Michelle play the part of almost everyone who has been married. The tug and pull of everyday life separates them from each other, but mostly from their true feelings about each other.

The truth is, based on the Hollywood mythical marriage created for oh so many years now, everyones marriage is terrible. What our couple are able to sort out at the end is that no one is perfect and by looking at yourself through your partners eyes can be a revealing and frightening thing. If you can face it, there is a future in your relationship. If you can not, you may have to move on.

This movie will be mostly lost on the younger crowd, simply because they have not experienced the problems the forty something and above audience have been through. However, it is a film they may go back and see once they have been there and down that. When I think about it, Rob Reiner (aka Meathead) has been expressing the thoughts and concerns of our generation for a number of years now. He is very good at it.