Customer Reviews

Something's Gotta Give [VHS]

5 star:		(146)
4 star:		(92)
3 star:		(52)
2 star:		(33)
1 star:		(37)

 

 

Something's Gotta Give is one of the year's best films and best comedies as it teams up Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, who seemed to love every minute they shared onscreen. Nicholson plays a man who only dates girls under 30 and is shocked to find he can fall in love with a woman his own age, played by Diane Keaton, who has never looked better. She gives her best performance since she won an Oscar for Annie Hall and should be on her way to another as a very career sucessful woman who has no confidence with men. It is great to see her reaction to both Nicholson's and Keanu Reeves' character. Nicholson and Keaton light up the screen with every scene they are in and Amanada Peet and Reeves do very well in their supporting role, as does the underused Frances McDormand as Keaton's sister. Nancy Meyers, who had a huge hit with What Women Want, does a much better job here and makes for a great adult romantic comedy featuring actors over 50. A great film that will be remembered.

I just can't remember laughing so much at a recent movie!

I was prepared for a slightly-deranged, lecherous, self-absorbed Jack Nicholson. I mean, what else is new?

I was prepared for a sweet, bright, pretty Diance Keaton. She's a sweetheart, right?

I wasn't prepared for the flat-out laugh-out-loud humor, irony, and wit of this charming comedy! Just so much fun...my wife and I were still chuckling as we walked out of the theater into the parking lot.

I suspect that all baby boomers will get a big kick out of seeing this film - at home or in the theater! A terrific entertainment value.

Best movie in a loooong time! Just excellent! It'll leave you laughing all the way, and touches you also :) Such a great romantic comedy. Yes, probaly more of a girl movie, but an excellent one you'll wanna see again and again! Can't wait until it comes out on DVD! Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson are a terrfic pair in this movie!

I love, love, love Something's Gotta Give. Diane and Jack are both great, as usual, but Amanda Peet, Keanu Reeves and Frances McDormand rock as well.
If you go to Paris, try the Grand Colbert restaurant seen at the end of the movie. They really have great roast chicken and you can sit at the "Diane-Jack-Keanu" table. Our waiter the night we went was in the movie (the birthday song scene)!
To the people who didn't like the end of the movie...I liked Julian too, but Erica ended up with the man she loved.
I highly recommend this movie.

Something's Gotta Give boasts a group of talented actors that played out their roles with great natural charm (yes! this means Keanu too but everyone knows that). This movie brought back all the romantic and charismatic movies of yesteryear, which now unfortunately have been replaced by exaggerated shoot out scenes, overdone sex and ridiculous one-liners to say the least. It shows that mature older people are not dried out prunes but who are accomplished human beings with (and this bit shouldn't make your stomach churn!) an active healthy sex life. The praising/judging of bachelor/spinsterhoods is just ludicrous. This movie shows that whether you are young, old, a bachelor or a spinster, you can achieve a lot of things if you have the determination and passion for it. And most of all, there is absolutely nothing wrong with getting older and taking chances to try something new. I can only hope that my life will lead to a prosperous, exciting and romantic mature one, in years to come with lots of things to show for it.

Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton are charming in this humorous love story about two intelligent, if not totally romantically centered, members of the middle-age set (toward the older end of the range).

Diana Keaton has never been better. This was finally her perfect role. Jack Nicholson was cast in a part that could have been written especially for him. Erica Barry (Keaton) a successful middle-aged playwright who has emotionally and sexually closed herself off after divorcing her husband of 22 years (Paul Michael Glaser, still looking pretty good himself), meets the older man in her young daughter Marin's (Amanda Peet) life. This meeting marked by sudden, unexpected attack of the heart exposes her to successful entrepreneur and playboy Harry Sanborn (Nicholson). Sanborn has 'played at life' all of his 63 years before finally starting to get down to 'living his life' after facing the reality that he might have come close to the end of his life. Proving it never rains but it pours, Barry unexpectedly simultaneously claims the attention of Sanborn's young doctor (Keanu Reeves), some 20 years her junior, who finds her beauty and intelligence magnetically attractive.

During a real rain storm, the genuine romance of the film begins to bloom. The charm of the movie is in looking on as two emotionally-challenged characters experience love, perhaps for the very first time, with all its pitfalls, peaks, comical and embarrassing moments, and the magic, tender, endearing episodes that make true love the roller coaster it always is.

Keaton beautifully handles the over-the-top emotions of falling in love, portraying the highs and the lows, with equal brilliance. Nicholson, who as always portrays every mental spark that is a thought and every feeling that is an emotion on that amazing face; always a portrait in motion that can be as easily read as words on a page.

There are a lot of laughs in this film and there are a lot of truths in the tale. Some reviewers have called this a menopause chick-flick. The audience when I attended was about equal male/female, including some male viewers without dates. The laughter seemed equally distributed along gender lines, telling me that the guys 'get it' as well as the females.

Timeless romance with a sterling cast. See it soon and be reminded that love just gets better with age, as have Keaton and Nicholson.

Having read some very mixed reviews for this film, I wasnt sure whether to bother with it or not. I`m glad I did.
Jack Nicholson (Harry) is excellent as an ageing playboy, intent on keeping his love life hassle free, by dating under 30s without baggage. Enter Marin (Amanda Peet) with an awesome set of eyebrows. Harry and Marin take off for her mothers stunning home in the Hamptons, expecting a quiet weekend together. Until Marins mother Erica (Diane Keaton), who has also gone to the house with her sister for the weekend, unexpectedly finds Harry raiding the fridge in his underwear. I think the tone for this film is set as the mother realizes with horror, that Harry isnt a burglar but her daughters boyfriend!
As the title suggests, somethings gotta give. And it does, Harrys heart. Any 64 year old fooling around with Marin to the strains of Marvin Gaye, should ideally get a check up first. Harry is told he is not well enough to travel back to the city for a few days, so finds himself reluctantly marooned at the house with Marins uptight mother. And the love story unfolds.
The setting for this film is beautiful, who doesnt want a home in the Hamptons now? Diane Keaton sparkles and Jack is a hoot. I get the feeling playing this part was as easy for him as falling off a log. You can clearly see the chemistry between himself and Diane.
I wasnt sure about the doctor, Keanu Reeves. He did seem to be wheeled in and out of the film, more as a prop than a real character. Which is a shame as he is a first rate actor. Those who disagree arent watching him properly. Watch again and enjoy his subtle handling of the restaurant scenes with Harry and Erica. Perfect!
If you want a classy film that will make you chuckle, try this one.

The best thing about the digital version of SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE is the exceptional commentary with Jack Nicholson and filmmaker Nancy Meyers. I know of no other record of Nicholson speaking so openly about his acting choices. There are tantalizing references to deleted scenes not included as extras on this disc. A fun and funny mature romantic comedy that will satisfy and delight.

Any movie that shows women's emotions and actually treats them with an ounce of respect is a "chick flick" that most men want to stay away from. Which is opposed to the "guy flick" where the women are treated like sex objects and there are a bunch of explosions and deaths. Come on guys. Are you mature men or 12 year old boys? Maybe if some men spent more time trying to understand women rather than objectifying them they might have better luck getting girlfriends.

This is PARTIALLY what Something's Gotta Give is about: how women want to be treated vs. how men THINK women want to be treated.

It's an excellent, funny, smart, refreshing movie. How often do we see an older man with an older woman in a romantic film nowadays? How often does that couple have excellent chemistry and actually look natural? Jack and Diane look and act like they had so much fun with this.

One nickpick I have is with Amanda Peet. She played her role too strait-laced and ended up coming off as boring. It really would have been a ball if she had mustered the off-kilter, slightly psychotic character she played in Saving Silverman. She's proven she can do decent comedy. Other than this small criticism, great flick.

You will enjoy this movie ONLY if you're a rich older rich woman who enjoys living in a safe fantasy world, far from contact with reality. In short, if you're a 50 year old rich "chick" who's afraid to come out of her "shell", this is the chick-flick for you.

The rest of us should go elsewhere for our entertainment... for example, "As good as it gets", also starring Jack Nicholson, is romantic, devoted to gritty realism, and displays well-rounded, deep, 3-dimensional characters.

"Something's gotta give" is a bland sugar-pill placebo. It's a flat unfunny comedy with flat, unbelievable characters in every manner of idealized settings from New York to The Hamptons to *gag* Paris. All the people in this movie are unreal rich, successful, gleaming-toothed, unoriginal stereotypes. They live in a perfect world where nothing hurts, nothing's real, and everybody comes out happy.

For example, a 30-something single doctor in the Hamptons who looks like Keanu Reeves (Heck, he IS Keanu Reeves) feels no pain or regret at being dumped by his fiance, and is single and available for Diane Keaton.

Everyone drives a (product placement alert) BMW. All the relationships are shallow, devoid of chemistry, and needlessly prozac-laden.

Dialogue lacks any sort of magic. I can't recall a single line of this film despite having seen it just a week ago.

Give it a miss. Go for something at least halfway committed to realism, witticism, and 3-dimensional characters.