an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

This "movie" movie is cleverly written and well-constructed by writer-director Charles Shyer (with co-writer Nancy Meyers). Humour and drama are balanced with alacrity.Ryan O'Neal and Shelley Long play off each other well, and you always believe them. Drew Barrymore is as cute as a button as she provides the sub-plot concerning family affairs and parenting. Also stars Sam Wanamaker, Allen Garfield and a very young Sharon Stone.It is hard to understand why Meyers and Shyer felt it necessary to provide the moral ending. I guess it was too obvious too omit.Tuesday, April 13, 1999 - Video

Writing team Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers scored a bullseye with IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES, a surprisingly smart and amusing comedy that blended the family dysfunction comedy with the "inside Hollywood" type of comedy and the results is quite entertaining. Our story begins with 10-year old KC Brotzky (Drew Barrymore)arriving in a Los Angeles courtroom where she is suing for emancipation from her divorced parents,filmmakers Albert and Lucy Brotzky (Ryan O'Neal and Shelley Long). The film then flashes back to the beginning of Albert and Lucy's relationship,showcasing the first smash hit film they made together, followed by another film during which Albert has an affair with the leading lady (Sharon Stone,very funny in one of her earliest roles)and how the making of this film tore Albert and Lucy apart. Albert and his new love then make a "Gone With the Wind"-type spectacular that bombs at the box office and things just go from bad to worse with poor little KC caught in the middle and tired of being a bargaining chip between her parents. O'Neal delivers what is probably the best performance of his career and Long is a good match for him. Aided by a deft screenplay, O'Neal, Long, and Barrymore deliver a nearly forgotten gem here which delivers warm family laughs and takes accurate potshots at Hollywood as well.

A very young Drew Barrymore decides to divorce her parents (Ryan O'Neal and Shelley Long) in this hit-and-miss comedy that never does come together. The two have been at odds and pretty much separated for a while after their careers get in the way of what once was a happy and loving marriage. O'Neal hits super-stardom as a film-maker, but does not give Long the credit she deserves and starts romancing the star of his first feature film (the scene-stealing Sharon Stone). He becomes a big-time celebrity with Stone now at his side while Long sinks into depression, but then there is a reversal of fortune as Long becomes a great novelist and O'Neal loses his shirt on a big-budget "Gone With the Wind"-styled film that tanks with critics and audiences. The movie goes back and forth between the media-crazed trial and flashbacks that, like the film, are sometimes mediocre. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Irreconcilable Differences is one of the best movies of the 80s and quite possibly the most underrated love story ever made. For whatever reason, audiences chose to ignore this well-written and well-acted gem in 1984. I think it may have been due to the marketing campaign -- they tried to sell it as a cutesy gimmick movie where a precocious child "divorces" her parents. But that isn't what this movie is about at all. This movie is able to provide strong commentary about failed relationships, especially when egos, power, and greed substitute for the things that should really matter in a person's life. In addition, it creates a viable love story that doesn't resort to typical Hollywood formulas when it creates the conflicts that may or may not separate these two people who we know belong with each other. We the audience get to see them actually fall in love on the screen before our very eyes. You would think this should be fairly standard, but how many movies can you recall (especially recently) that you can say that about? This is done through great acting, writing, and directing. Notice how Shelley Long's voice changes over the years as she goes through the various changes in her life. Watch Ryan O'Neal's eyes toward the end as you can actually see an inner peace that he never had earlier.These are just a few of the great things I loved about this great, heartwarming, and underappreciated film. If you want a great love story with some very good comic and dramatic moments as well, rent this movie! You won't regret it.