The Story of Us

A substandard movie with a good initial idea that is unfortunately completely “buried" by the unbelievably bad screenplay. The only thing that makes this watchable are the excellent acting performances by the Willis/Pfeiffer duo in the role of a married couple going through a rough patch after years of being together and, while their kids are away at summer camp, they start solving their crisis. The movie languishes in uninteresting flashbacks from the better days of their relationship and not even the crisis filled present is much more interesting. (20.04.2005)

Our US comrades miscalculated a bit. As the 1990s peaked, it wasn't as easy to tackle adult romantic comedies based on marital crises, hence the very strange loving couple Michelle and Bruce. Theoretically, we could imagine the two as a functioning couple, but not in a film as untenable as this one. The formal aspects are as aggressive and unacceptable as they rarely are. All the omniscient talking to the camera, the flashbacks that didn't work, and the poor dramatic construction ruined what little could have worked. On the other hand, I can imagine that if someone who is dealing with a similar problem is watching the film, they might end up having an interesting dialogue with themselves. (27.06.2012)