A familiarity with Shakespeare's The Tempest might be a source of annoyance for purists, but the more licentious will probably be impressed at how facilely Paul Mazursky makes the play adjust to, and disappear beneath, the mid-life crisis of a prosperous Manhattan architect. Only as the end draws near does the original play seem constricting: the "magical" atmosphere of a tiny Greek island and the literal display of witch-doctory do not blend well with the "smart" New York comedy, nor does the badly miscalculated fantasy scene of a goat-dance to the accompaniment of Liza Minnelli's "New York, New York." (The saturnalian dénouement, of course, has always been a temptation for Mazursky, even when he wasn't adapting Shakespeare.) But for quite a long time, there is a sufficient amount of dyspeptic humor and sharp observation and fine acting (especially by John Cassavetes, in one of his better roles) to keep the scenes sliding smoothly and divertingly by. With Gena Rowlands, Susan Sarandon, Vittorio Gassman, and Raul Julia. (1982) — Duncan Shepherd
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