Schmaltzy, preachy, pushy comedy on the subject of second chances and fresh starts. A Jewish widow gets "picked up at her own husband's funeral" by a gate-crashing Italian who has loved her from afar for twenty-odd years. The Italian is the movie's biggest problem, partly because the role is cast with the unintelligible Marcello Mastroianni (who has the unfortunate habit of quoting the greats: Shakespeare, Emerson, Paz), but more because the role is cast in concrete: a fairy-tale Prince Charming who is assigned to love the heroine without even knowing her, and whose increasing knowledge neither alters nor tests his love. It's just a given. There are plenty of smaller problems as well, in the form of relentless bizarreries that afford the movie a lot to be schmaltzy and preachy about: a single mother who dresses up as screen heroines (Bonnie Parker, Holly Golightly, Mrs. Robinson, et al.); her ten-year-old son who fancies himself an invulnerable Superboy; and so forth. With Shirley MacLaine, Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy (Academy Award-winning actresses all: a publicist's dream), and, best of the bunch, Marcia Gay Harden; directed by Beeban Kidron. (1992) — Duncan Shepherd
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