Product Details

• Actors: Kim Basinger, Alec Baldwin, Robert Loggia, Elisabeth Shue, Armand Assante
• Directors: Jerry Rees
• Writers: Neil Simon
• Producers: David Permut, David Streit, Donald Kreiss
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• VHS Release Date: April 14, 1994
• Run Time: 115 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302156823
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #268,497 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

"Hot gets you into trouble," cautions high-living 1940s-era playboy Alec Baldwin. He doesn't know the half of it. Days before his marriage to Hollywood studio heiress Elisabeth Shue, he falls madly in bed with shapely lounge singer Kim Basinger and ends up in an unlikely shotgun marriage. They divorce, they remarry, they divorce, they... you get the picture. Baldwin, all cool confidence in his sharp suits, and Basinger, who looks poured into her stylish, curve-hugging gowns, fell in love while shooting this 1991 film. Unfortunately their onscreen chemistry, apart from a couple of simmering bedroom scenes, is anything but combustible.

Neil Simon based his original screenplay on a real-life Hollywood story of l'amour fou, but even in his hands the ping-ponging romance feels contrived. Without that troublesome heat of uncontrollable passion, this amiable comic drama winds up lukewarm. --Sean Axmaker

Review

Hot gets you into trouble, cautions high-living 1940s-era playboy Alec Baldwin. He doesn't know the half of it. Days before his marriage to Hollywood studio heiress Elisabeth Shue, he falls madly in bed with shapely lounge singer Kim Basinger and ends up in an unlikely shotgun marriage. They divorce, they remarry, they divorce, they... you get the picture. Baldwin, all cool confidence in his sharp suits, and Basinger, who looks poured into her stylish, curve-hugging gowns, fell in love while shooting this 1991 film. Unfortunately their onscreen chemistry, apart from a couple of simmering bedroom scenes, is anything but combustible.
Neil Simon based his original screenplay on a real-life Hollywood story of l'amour fou, but even in his hands the ping-ponging romance feels contrived. Without that troublesome heat of uncontrollable passion, this amiable comic drama winds up lukewarm. --Sean Axmaker --Amazon.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent singing from Miss Basinger, May 9, 2003

By 

elances (trapped in an artistic wasteland, SW USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Marrying Man (DVD)

Let me start off by saying that my 5-star rating is for Kim Basinger's singing of these fantastic old songs. The DVD itself boasts no real extra features, so it deserves 3 stars at best. Toward the end of the film, I experience a few glitches, but that may simply be with my dvd player--you may not have the same problem with yours.

The film is charming. It is predictable, but still an enjoyable experience, thanks mainly to Kim Basinger. (By the way, I was not a fan of her at all until I saw her in this film.) Her performances of songs like "Let's Do It" and "Honeysuckle Rose" may be considered too sexy by purists, but considering modern sensibilities and the fact that she is supposed to be singing in a Las Vegas club in the fifties (the decade of Marilyn Monroe), I think her approach is perfectly fine. Her "stage presence" during these numbers is scintillating--I would love to see her perform music like this live in concert. The musical arrangements are fantastic also.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A sparkling comedy, February 29, 2000

By 

Florence Pierce (San Diego CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Marrying Man [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Based on a true story, The Marrying Man tells the story of Charlie Pearl (Baldwin) and Vicki Anderson (Basinger), he a rich playboy, she a Vegas lounge singer and girlfriend of gangster Bugsy Siegel. They love, fight, marry. Four times. Funny one-liners, great cast, fantastic songs and an authentic recreation of the glamorous late 1940's, early 1950's era are all propelled by real life husband and wife team Baldwin and Basinger's brilliant screen chemistry. The couple fell in love on the set- and it shows. Their portrayal of a couple whose sizzling heat fuels a love-hate relationship which takes over and nearly destroys their lives is backed up and given light relief by the perfectly chosen comedic supporting cast. Fisher Stevens and Paul Reiser feature as some of Charlie's struggling Hollywood friends, Reiser giving a wry narrative throughout which aids in the films continuity and light tone. Armand Assante, as Bugsy Siegel with an ironic sense of humor, delivers a refreshing and different slant on the usual movie gangsters. Robert Logia is fantastic and funny as the aggressive and egotistical movie studio owner and Elisabeth Shue is terrific as his neurotic and spoiled daughter, engaged to Charlie, but who is no match for sexy songstress Vicki. Basinger who did all of her own singing, gives a knock-out performance as the talented and ambitious singer. Her delivery- sexy, suggestive, vibrant- is perfect. In a sleazy Vegas casino, Charlie and his friends' first sight of her back-lit, curvy figure and the sound of her throbbing voice causes the stuttered and dazed reaction of: "she has great ....... phrasing" to which Reiser's character replies, "Oh yeah, the first thing I noticed when we walked in here was her phrasing". The cast, atmosphere and the on-screen heat with her leading man all make the film an enjoyable whole. But it is Basinger's transformation of Vicki's whole persona and performing style, from initially ambitious, brassy and slightly trashy, to sophisticated, worldly, and mellow in a perfectly honed performance that really helps make the film memorable.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fun, Romantic Musical Comedy., August 23, 2006

By 

Reviews No More - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Marrying Man (DVD)

This adaptation of Neil Simon's play will never be a classic film, but if you can get it cheap, I recommend it highly. There are worse romantic comedies you could waste your time on, but this one is nostalgic and genuinely glamourous fun. It's a great escape from all the current situation settings in similar films.

Charlie Pearl (Alec Baldwin), multi-millionaire, is about to marry movie honcho Lou Horner's (Robert Loggia) daughter until his friends take him to Vegas for a bachelor party, and he falls for club singer Vickie Anderson (Kim Basinger), who also happens to be Bugsy Siegel's (Armand Assante) girlfriend. It's a wild ride between a millionaire playboy and a fast nightclub singer that involves 4 marriages and 3 divorces. It won't change your world, but it certainly is fun, the costumes are excellent, and the soundtrack is among my favorites. Check it out.