The directorial debut of writer Nora Ephron, a name that guarantees a level of sophistication, though not necessarily cinematic sophistication. And certainly with those Carly Simon melodies and lyrics ("I love Lucy and pumpernickel bread," "You're the love of my life./ You are the pleasure in pain," etc.) to help sweep us through Life's Passages (the move to Manhattan, the rudimentary montage of the Vegas Strip), we can't feel we are in the company of a trailblazer. And the overall drab image has an air of either neglect or ignorance. On the other hand are what are sometimes referred to as human values. And the story of a single mother of two daughters (fifteenish? tennish?) who skyrockets from a Macy's cosmetics hawker to a modestly famous stand-up comic (the first job provides a good proving ground for the second: "Oh-h-h, single but with married skin!") has human values in plenty. The movie hits an emotional high rather early, with the elder daughter's electric reaction to seeing her mother perform in public for the first time, and under the gaze of a legendary theatrical agent who methodically devours a paper napkin in the course of the performance. But emotions are not policy; they shift. And when the mother's career takes her away from home, and the children are left in the care of a round-robin babysitting team of fellow comedians (amusingly unamusing), emotions begin to shift on a seismic scale. Young love, door-slamming tantrums, running away from home -- all quite believable. Julie Kavner, Samantha Mathis, Gaby Hoffmann, Dan Aykroyd. (1992) — Duncan Shepherd
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