SIN Entertainment

'That Old Feeling'

Rated PG-13
f you've everbeen embarrassed
by your parents, That Old Feel-
ing will provide a night of
mindless fun and some cathar-
tic relief that will make even the
most outrageous mom and dad
seem tame in comparison.
In the opening scene, Molly,
played by Paula Marshall, al-
most chokes on her diamond ring

I

When Molly forces her movie-
star mother and writer father to
leave the wedding, their pas-
sionate hatred gives way to pas-
sionate lust, culminating in the
decision of this ever-volatile pair
to run off with each other.
Needless to say, neither Mol-
ly nor her hysterical stepparents
— a frigid interior decorator and
a New Age psychobabbling ther-

tance of kicking back, having fun
and ... being multicultural (al-
though — as per the unwritten
Hollywood rules — not explicit-
ly Jewish).
Toward the end of the movie,
even the painfully conformist
Molly loosens up, joining the in-
creasingly attractive photogra-
pher and her parents in crashing
a Latino wedding and later shar-

Dennis Farina and Bette Midler come full circle in That Old Feeling.

and begs her straight-laced new
fiance to elope. Despite Molly's apist — are pleased when they
insistence that her divorced par- discover their spouses' disap-
pearance. As a political can-
ents will ruin the wed-
didate running on a family
ding, future hubby
MOVIES
values platform, Keith, the
Keith (Jamie Denton)
increasingly unappealing
— a bland, aspiring
politician — has already rented new husband, is livid.
Molly hires a heavily Brook-
the church and made arrange-
ments for a reception at his lyn-accented tabloid photogra-
WASPy family's country estate. pher (Danny Nucci) to track
Of course, Molly's worst night- down her parents, who have
mares come true and her ab- been gallivanting around New
surdly narcissistic celebrity York. The enthusiastic chemistry
parents, Lily and Dan — played between the aging lovebirds is
delightfully by Bette Midler and definitely the high point of the
Dennis Farina — argue loudly movie, and their sheer outra-
and dramatically in front of the geousness is fun to watch.
"I haven't had so much fun
new husband's stiflingly genteel
since it was OK to take drugs,"
family.
says the ebullient Lily, and her
joy
in life's earthly pleasures —
Julie Wiener grew up being
especially sex and food — is en-
embarrassed by her parents, is
ergizing to watch.
definitely not engaged to a
Indeed, the movie seems to
Republican congressman and
take
a stand against WASPy val-
looks forward to embarrassing
ues and emphasizes the impor-
her future children.

ing a pig-out session with her
mother.
Unfortunately, the rest of the
cast pales in comparison to Mi-
dler and Farina, weakly
mouthing one-liners that are
cute but nothing you haven't
heard before. Molly's character
is convincing, but bland, and the
other actors — while they pull off
their stereotypes —get tiresome.
The tiredness is exacerbated by
a pace that is far too leisurely for
the screwball comedy the movie
is trying to be.
That Old Feeling is a movie
that's not going to win any
awards but will provide a few
hours of lighthearted diversion.
Better yet, wait for it to come out
on video so you can get up for the
occasional trip to the kitchen.

— Julie Wiener

There were several Jews who took
home Academy Awards this year ...
and Jewish News readers who
made some pretty good predictions.

os Angeles (JTA) — The
69th annual Academy
Awards are history. But
one question for a segment
of the population remains:
Was it good for the Jews?
The answer is yes for some
and no for others.
It was a grand evening for
veteran filmmaker Saul Za-
entz, who picked up an Oscar
for producing Best Picture
winner The English Patient,
as well as the honorary Irving
Thalberg award for his life-
time contributions to the film
industry.
The New Jersey native,
whose home base is Berkeley,
Calif , has now won Oscars in
three consecutive decades. He
started with One Flew Over
the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975, and
followed up with Amadeus in
1984.
It was not quite as happy an
occasion for Lauren Bacall,
however, who was favored to
garner Best Supporting Ac-
tress honors for her role as
Barbra Streisand's Je g4i.sh
mother in The Mirror Has
Two Faces.
She lost to English Patient's
Juliette Binoche, who seemed
as surprised as everyone else
to have beaten out Ms. Bacall
and who generously observed
that "Lauren deserved it."
After days of rumors and de-
nials, concert pianist David
Helfgott, the real-life hero of
Shine, showed up and per-
formed to thunderous ap-
plause.
Geoffrey Rush, the non-Jew-
ish Australian actor, got the
Best Actor nod for his por-
trayal of Mr. Helfgott in Shine.
Host Billy Crystal peppered
his routine with Jewish refer-
ences. He talked of his bris
"the rabbi had the final cut"
— referred to the black, Cha-
sidic-like outfit worn by pre-
senter Kevin Spacey, and
called the First Wives trio of
Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler

—

and Diane Keaton the "Three
Yentas from Eastwick."
The gags went over well
with the Hollywood in-crowd
but must have puzzled some
of the 1 billion television view-
ers in 100 countries.
In other categories, broth
ers Ethan and Joel Coen
walked off with an Academy
Award for their original
screenplay Fargo. Joel Coen's
wife, Frances McDormand,
was named Best Actress. In
her next film, Paradise Road,
she stars as a German-Jewish
emigre in a Sumatran war
camp.

AND OUR JNE
OSCAR CONTEST
WINNERS ARE ...

Grand Prize Winner:

Matthew Berry
of Bloomfield Hills

Ten Runners-Up:

Evelyn Spitzer
of Walled Lake

Jason Hirsch
of Southfield

Robert E. Schwartz
of West Bloomfield

Seymour Deitch
of Southfield

Ilona L. Tobin
of Birmingham

A. Finander
of Oak Park

Laurie Brown
of Ferndale

ti

Sue Smith
of Southfield

Jeffery Meyers
of Southfield

CT)
CT)

__J

0

Rachel Cook
of Southfield

0

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