Product Details

• Actors: Marv Albert, Charles Barkley, Robert Costanzo, Sean Elliott, William Hickey
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Turner Home Ent
• VHS Release Date: January 13, 1998
• Run Time: 101 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0790733838
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #258,437 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Billy Crystal plays Mickey, a basketball referee who has to accompany his estranged father's body to France, where the old man requested to be buried with the other members of his D-Day platoon. Unfortunately for Mickey, the airline loses his body. Fortunately for Mickey, this leads him to meet Ellen (Debra Winger), an airline executive who takes personal charge of the case and even joins him at the funeral. A whirlwind Paris romance leads to marriage, but that's when the complications begin... The story of Mickey and Ellen's marriage is recounted by their friends (played by Joe Mantegna, Cynthia Stevenson, Julie Kavner, Richard Masur, John Spencer, and Cathy Moriarty) as they wait for Mickey and Ellen to arrive at a dinner party. And of course these friends have their own stories, which are played out in witty shorthand as they bicker about who's going to tell the next part of the Mickey/Ellen saga. Forget Paris is uneven (unsurprisingly, Winger is stronger in the dramatic sections and Crystal in the comic parts, a schism that takes its toll on their chemistry), but its best parts hold up, even if the whole is shaky. Plus, the movie's theme (that romantic memories aren't what makes a marriage work, you have to live in the present) is explored with conviction and tenderness. --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker

A Billy Crystal movie with a vengeance: he produced, directed, and stars, as Mickey, a basketball referee who flies to Paris (or a tourist parody of Paris) and loses his heart to Ellen (Debra Winger), an airline worker. They get married, and the problems start-for them, and for the movie. Crystal and Winger make one of the great no-sparks couples in recent cinema: he cracks jokes, she looks baffled and strained. He also co-wrote, with the team of Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, whose scripts since "Splash" (1984) have been getting less nutty and more therapeutic; this one turns into a marriage-counselling session. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Deeeeelightful!......, May 15, 2003

By 

L. Shirley "Laurie's Boomer Views" (Huntington Beach,CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Forget Paris (DVD)

This review refers to the Warner Bros. DVD edition of "Forget Paris".....

Andy and Liz(Joe Mantegna/Cynthia Stevenson) are about to take the plunge. You know, tie the knot, add the ball and chain,,the Big "M"...Marriage!. But wait...at their pre-wedding celebration dinner, Liz is meeting all of Andy's friends and what a tale they have to tell..

The story of Mickey and Ellen(Billy Crystal/Debra Winger) begins to unfold as each of the couples take their turn relating the events, and they're not always the picture of wedded bliss!

Mickey and Ellen met under unusual circumstances. It seems Mickey's deceased father "got lost" on the way to Paris for a burial.Ellen is a supervisor at the Paris airport and helps Mickey find and bury his father. And so it begins..they fall in love and have a long distance(there's the little matter of a pond)relationship.They finally marry and live happily ever after...NOT....well maybe...

It's one thing after another, as these two try to adapt to the other's world. The laughs and the smiles are non stop, and when Ellen's Dad(William Hickey) comes into the picture you know you're in for a treat!

A well seasoned cast keeps the story moving beautifully. It includes Julie Kavner, Richard Masur, Cathy Moriariarty and John Spencer. Mickey is a basketball referee, so you're also treated to some wonderful cameos by some sports legends. Billy Crystal directs and also wrote it along with Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel.

The DVD is beautiful. It has an excellent picture and colors and you have the choice of widescreen or the standard version. The sound is in Dolby Digital Stereo surround and the wonderful music is nicely spaced. The soundtrack is also marvelous. Besides the original score(Marc Shaiman) and songs by Carole Bayer Sager and Anita Baker, you may also fall in love again with tunes by Duke Ellington, George Gershwin and Cole Porter.

Get romantic,watch some basketball, have a good laugh...and...enjoy...Laurie

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Funny Romantic Comedy, May 25, 2000

By 

David Montgomery "Book Critic" (davidjmontgomery.com) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Forget Paris (DVD)

The romantic comedy is a very popular genre at the movies right now. I suppose that it always has been. In "Forget Paris" the emphasis is on the comedy, rather than the romance, and it provides a nice counterpart to some of the others.

The story is structured in a fashion that will be familiar to Woody Allen fans. Three couples are sitting around at dinner telling stories about their absent friends Mickey (Billy Crystal) and Ellen (Debra Winger).

Mickey and Ellen first meet in Paris through a rather amazing set of circumstances. (I won't give it away.) They fall in love, but Mickey has to go back to work-he's an NBA referee-so he leaves. He pines for Ellen, though, and it starts to affect his work. (There's a great scene with him and Kareem Abdul Jabbar.) Finally, Mickey returns to Paris and they resume where they left off.

Eventually, they decide to get married and Ellen quits her job and moves to California with Mickey. That's when the problems begin. Mickey is constantly on the road, so Ellen gets lonely, plus she hates her new job. Basically, she's miserable.

Trying to make things work out between them, Mickey quits his job and stays home with Ellen. In the meantime, she has gotten a great job that she loves so she's never home. Now Mickey is miserable.

If you suspect that somehow everything works out in the end, you've probably seen this kind of movie before. No matter. A romantic comedy succeeds or fails, not based on its originality or unpredictability, but on its charm, humor and the charisma of its characters. On that basis, "Forget Paris" succeeds.

Billy Crystal produced, directed and co-wrote the film, in addition to starring in it, so it's his picture all the way. With that kind of pedigree, you know it's going to be funny, and it is. Sometimes hilariously so.

It also means that there will be moments when the story or the characters will be sacrificed in order to serve the humor-and there are. There are too many scenes where Crystal cracks jokes and all Winger is given to do is laugh at them. That's too bad. An actress of her talent and intelligence should have a character that is more worthy of her.

There will be natural comparisons between this film and "When Harry Met Sally...," which also starred Billy Crystal. Although this picture is not as good as that one, it is still enjoyable.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real, identifiable, funny, delectable. One of the best!, April 8, 2003

By 

Shashank Tripathi (Gadabout) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Forget Paris (DVD)

Whatever paeans are sung to this impeccable lark of a flick will fall short of my true love and awe for it -- it is funny, very very well made and edited (not one boring or drawn out scene), both Debra Winger and Billy Crystal have a delectable chemistry and are in top form with their punchlines, and above all, this is a story that is so real and credible in its romance and emotions, one can almost _immediately_ identify with it. The story's narrative is in the reins of a bunch of people over a dinner table (quite an innovative flow as we lead Mickey and Ellen's lives -- Crystal and Winger respectively). The scenes and situations revolve around the couple's romance and the rough waters that they have to wade through, some touching, most quite interesting. And last but not the least, it just picks up some of the most beautiful songs by Cole Porter, the Gershwins and some other great american composers. This is all-round amazing entertainment -- pity it's not a sin to watch, or it would be as near bloody perfect as cinema can get!