Customer Reviews

Town and Country

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Unfortunately Town & Country was a total waste of time and good talent. Everything about this movie was painfully bad, from the writing to the directing to the uninspired acting of a tremendously talented cast. The movie just never took off and lacked any spark of intelligence or energy. Do not waste your time or money.

"Inconsistent" is the keyword of "Town and Country." I mean, the keyword of how to explain the failure of the film. Maybe I'm mistaken, but when I watched it in theater in Japan, the touch of photography slightly changes in the last 30 minutes. At first, the colors and the light of the film are soft, but near the ending they get suddenly sharper and things look more distinct. And maybe I'm mistaken again, but the opening credit has it "Joshua Hartnett" while in the ending credit "Josh Hartnett," the way he is usually known now.

What I want to say is, as you know, "Town and Country" has experienced several re-writes because of negative response from the viewers at the screen test. But to re-write or re-shoot a film is not unusual these days -- "Fatal Attration" is one good example -- but in this case, the bad reaction from the audience could have been predicted with ease. Check out the story. The hero, who suddenly turns a philanderer when his should be well mature, is played by none other than Warren Beatty (come on!); he has an affiar with a beautiful cellist (sexy Nastassja Kinski) and his friend's wife (ever gorgeous Goldie Hawn); and then, he goes on to have another one (apparently) with Andie MacDowell and Jenna Elfman. He regrets (why not?) and goes back to his wife Diane Keaton, and asks to be forgiven, and ... she forgives!! Okay, this is an ultimate fantasy for men, I understand, but no one, male or female, buys that idea. So, Buck Henry was called as script-doctor, but even his talent could do nothing. As a result, sometimes the film looks like a romance; sometimes a farce (and not a bad one when Gary Shandling is allowed to do his stuff): sometimes very serious and ... forget it. By now, you got my point. The film is always apologetic for what it is based on. Whoever gave this impossible script a green light?

At the climax ceremony scene, many co-stars hurriedly show up one by one -- Elfman, MacDowell, Kinski, and Heston -- but so hurriedly go away that this final showdown, which could be used as a good slapstick farce, vanishes without a trace. It is as if they got other commitments. Maybe they did. It looks as if they are running away, and if so, it's a wise decision.

Do not waste your time. In spite of the cast, this movie is a whopping dud. Meandering and unfulfiling. A shame. I'd give it zero stars, but the system won't let me.

I doubt I will see a worse movie this year or next. After three years of rewrites, reshoots and re-edits, Warren Beatty's latest vehicle is released and falls mightily flat with a huge crash. All the post-production hoopla did nothing but destroy the film's chances of ever finding any artistic success or adding any glimmer to the careers of those involved. Beatty and Garry Shandling are idiot actors in idiotic roles as two men who can't stop cheating on their wives. Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton hardly fare any better as the women who are being betrayed by these philandering gits (this is a very far cry from The First Wives Club). All the other talented performers, from Jenna Elfman to Andie MacDowell to Joshua Hartnett, are wasted in thankless roles that for the most part don't even make any sense. The film's script has absolutely no humour beyond the odd moment, and most of its scenes end without ever having gone anywhere. Even Beatty can't avoid the fact that he is just too old to be in something so ridiculous; with no character strength written in, how are we supposed to believe that all these gorgeous women a third his age would fall for this twelve hundred year-old goofball? The enjoyment level here is equal to a non-novocaine-assisted drilling in a back-alley dentist's chair. Unbelievable that is written by the man who wrote To Die For and co-wrote Heaven Can Wait with Beatty.

Worst film with so many stars that I have seen for quite some time. So many scenes were so pitiful. Nothing funny about this movie. All of the characters were pathetic.

This was one of the worst movies my husband and I ever tried to watch. We finally gave up and I threw our DVD away. We were looking forward to watching it because of the cast, but that just proves that you need more than very good actores to make a good movie. Nothing seemed funny to us; I find it strange that it got better reviews than "My Fellow Americans" and "Her Alibi." We enjoyed the first one and thought the second one was cute, but they got trounced. Which might also prove that you have to be an outspoken liberal to get a good review in Hollywood?

Filmed in 1998 and not released until 2001, TOWN AND COUNTRY has the dubious honor of being one of the most financially disastrous films of all time. What were these talented actors doing in a mess like this? It's thin plot focuses on marital infidelity and pompous overacting. Warren Beatty is basically playing his off-screen persona; Diane Keaton is playing the same roles she's been playing ever since Annie Hall; Garry Shandling is like a stand up comic with no funny lines; Goldie Hawn is the same Goldie from DEATH BECOMES HER; Andie McDowell and Nastassa Kinski are wasted in their superflous roles; and Charlton Heston is no Leslie Nielsen, and is about as funny as HOWARD THE DUCK.
Peter Chisom's direction is pedestrian and uninspired, and the whole thing just falls flat on its incompetent face. What a waste!

This film took over three years to bring to the screen with a budget of over $90 million. Having grossed less than $7 million at the box office, it stands out as one of the biggest box office disasters in history. Actually, it isn't that bad, but it is by no means as good a film as one would suppose looking at the cast.

The film features an outstanding cast, but an undistinguished director and writing team. The result is a whole lot of talented people going through the motions saying lines that are seldom funny in skits that are mostly insipid. The story is a typical midlife crisis comedy where Porter (Warren Beatty) and Griffin (Garry Shandling) perpetrate various indiscretions on their loyal wives of 25 years. This is clearly a comedy aimed at the 45+ demographic with little traction among the younger moviegoers that represent the lion share of entertainment dollars spent.

The ensemble cast of noted veterans does a decent job with sparse material. Warren Beatty gives the best performance, with a plenty of good physical comedy despite the weak lines. Goldie Hawn and Jenna Elfman are also good. Diane Keaton and Garry Shandling are well off their game in this film and Andie MacDowell and Nastassja Kinski are little more than window dressing. Charleton Heston steals the show with an outrageous cameo as MacDowell's father.

This film fails to scratch its way above the water line with a great deal of (expensive) talent wasted. The whole is far less than the sum of the parts. I rated it a 5/10. It's worth a try for middle aged viewers.

I have always been a BIG fan of Goldie Hawn because of her extraordinary talent, and abitity to adept herself to unuasual situations. I don't understand why Goldie would lower her standards and appear in the aweful "B" grade flick.

This movie has a very basic story line where a married, elderly wealthy, old man is portrayed in being able to have sex with beautiful younger women and ends up being caught. The end I will leave for your imanination. :)

There doesn't seem to be any 'spark' between Beatty and Goldie as in acting together: again...heaven knows why she did it.

see this only if you are extremely bored. As a previouse reviewer stated: not a movie for Goldies C.V

That depressing thought should motivate Beatty to make another movie and quick. It's been nearly eight years since this one came out and he's not getting any younger. As if the fact that this film is a crude sex romp that isn't funny or sexy isn't enough consider that it cost over $90 million to make. So many talented people, including Diane Keaton (Beatty's companion for many years), Nastassja Kinski, Andie McDowell, Jenna Elfman, Goldie Hawn, Garry Shandling and Josh Hartnett, are wasted and embarrassed here. (Let's not even mention Charlton Heston's cringe inducing performance which finds him growling like a dragon and chasing Beatty around with a rifle). The film begins with a nude Warren (thankfully covered by a sheet) being serenaded by a nude cellist. He informs us in a useless narration that this isn't his wife and that this will never happen again. Cut to Paris where he and his actual wife (Keaton) are celebrating their anniversary with another married couple (Shandling and Hawn). After the couples return from their vacation Hawn learns that Shandling is cheating on her and files for divorce. Devastated she confides in Keaton who's positive her husband could never do something like that. Guess again since the film tastelessly finds Beatty and Hawn hooking up and shows them having sex on numerous occasions. Warren doesn't stop there though he goes on to romance McDowell, Kinski, and Elfman before finally coming clean to his wife. Not even Jack Nicholson, Warren's good pal, acts this bad in his movies so why should Beatty think he could get away with it? It's a terrible film that should depress fans of anyone involved.