Highly Overrated But Still Good

Brilliant and touching

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

The first time I saw this was on a long air trip. Jeff Bridges and Sally Field did a fine job with the material But James Caan walked away with the show...I really never tire of watching this movie again. The Dusty Springfield song and music by Peter Allen at the opening and closing are one of my favorites they are two people whose talent are greatly missed in the industry. I think the performances by the supporting cast were great too. I think it was likely one of the last roles for Mildred Natwick and Claire Trevor. It was fun to see some of the NYC locations used as well.

This light comedy brings together an interesting group of actors, young and old, for an off-beat story about a widow (Sally Field) who finds herself haunted by her late husband (James Caan), just as she is about to marry a new love interest (Jeff Bridges). The movie has a series of gags in which the dead husband keeps dropping by to surprise and annoy his surviving wife. Confusion follows for her and her new love interest, who seems somewhat possessive and thus all the more alarmed by the turn of events. The movie has the added talents of Claire Trevor as Sally Field's mother, Paul Dooley as her father, and Mildred Natwick as the owner of a bed-and-breakfast in the country where the three parties head off for a weekend encounter. The movie, directed by Robert Mulligan (Love with a Proper Stranger), is entertaining enough to pass the time on a quiet afternoon. It was great to see Claire Trevor, who won an Academy Award for Key Largo in the 1940's. I didn't know she was making films this late in her career. As it turns out, the late husband was no paragon of virtue but in the end, he helps his wife make the transition to a new life.

This is one of my favorite romantic comedies about a widow who has to come to terms with her future husband as well as her previously deceased husband who has contacted her beyond the grave.I did not originally see this movie in the theaters, but caught it on TV a few years back. I now have it on DVD. Sally Field's character, Jay Villano, is humorous and sensitive in the role as a young widow, and Jeff Bridges is absolutely gorgeous even though he is portraying a nerd. James Caan is an excellent as the character, Jolly Villano, Sally Field's whimsical and carefree dead husband. Claire Trevor, Kay Villano's mother, is excellent as a strong willed upper-class socialite. I have watched this movie several times and it never gets old. It is definitely a treat, so I guess it should be considered a classic. I don't know why this was not a big hit at the box office, but it has smart language, and has a terrific cast.

This picture went nowhere when it was released in 1982, going almost immediately to cable, mostly because it didn't match the Brazilian movie on which it's based. But seen on its own now, after more than twenty years, it's a well made, well written and played comedy for adults, especially when compared to the stupidly vulgar and juvenile "comedies" produced now. It does descend to the "sitcom" level now and again (underlined by Ralph Burns' incidental score, which "mickey mouses" every move, in the manner of 40s comedies) but still, it has many sweet and touching moments.The cast is exceptional, with everyone well-cast for their roles. The choice that I've only recently "gotten" is Claire Trevor as Sally Field's character's mother. Trevor made a career of playing "dames" (as in her brilliant showing as Edward G. Robinson's alcoholic moll in "Key Largo"), and I never got why SHE was chosen to play the society-matron mother in this, a "comeback" role for her. And why should she "adore" the character Kay's first husband so much, a womanizing dancer/choreographer, more than the stalwart, upper middle class WASP-Y scientist, played with quiet amusement by Jeff Bridges, whom Kay has chosen as her second husband, perhaps a more "appropriate" choice? But one telling line hints at something: Bridges character's comment about a hat the mother is wearing in one scene: "Are batteries included?" Perhaps the mother isn't quite what she seems, not from a "society" family but an actress who married into money? Someone who ALMOST "gets" it, the way to dress and talk and behave, but not quite... Now THAT makes sense for the choice of Trevor for the role. But this is the only hint in the writing. To me this is an intriguing explanation.