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

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.