Bruce Willis, Michelle Pfeiffer. Two very independent people must decide whether to rescue their dying marriage or split up and move on in this romantic comedy from Rob Reiner. 1999/color/90 min/R/widescreen.Director Rob Reiner’s When Harry Met Sally… was about a relationship beginning; The Story of Us is about a relationship possibly coming to an end. Bruce Willis plays a comedy writer who chafes at what he sees as his wife’s lack of spontaneity; Michelle Pfeiffer, who creates crossword puzzles, stews over what she sees as her husband’s irresponsibility. The arc of their separation is interspliced with glimpses and scenes from their marriage–a combination of high points (the proposal, the births of their two children), low points (screaming fights), and the in-between (sessions with marriage counselors, moments in bed staring at the TV). Reiner indicates the passage of time by Willis and Pfeiffer’s various hairstyles, and they occasionally let their hair act for them, but at other points their performances are sincere and deeply felt. The sheer power of the themes–the inevitability of conflict in a relationship, the necessity and difficulty of growth–give the movie a degree of emotional force, and there’s no doubt that everyone who’s gone through a difficult period in their marriage (which is just about every married couple) will find something to connect with. However, there isn’t a lot of chemistry between the two leads. In one sequence Willis and Pfeiffer go to Venice to rekindle their old spark and find themselves hounded by another couple, the Kirbys from Cleveland, who are loud, crass, boring, and oblivious. Nonetheless, the Kirbys have a buoyancy that the glossy and elegant stars never quite manage; if The Story of Us had been the story of them, it might have been a better story to watch. –Bret Fetzer
The Story of Us
Pinned on May 20, 2013 at 4:52 am by Lindsey Nelson
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When Harry Left Sally… Occasionally shallow, occasionally moving, ‘The Story of Us’ is a rollercoaster ride through a couple’s relationship, focusing on the myriad moments that defined their love, hate, and indifference. Structurally, the film is almost a clone of Rob Reiner’s earlier ‘When Harry Met Sally’, complete with actor-to-audience monologues, flashforwards and flashbacks, and wisecracking supporting characters who are occasionally more interesting than the leads.
Too close to home A suprizingly stinging movie to those who have been divorced or who have had marital troubles.
The Story of “All” of Us There’s an underlying sadness that permeates this story of a marriage in trouble after fifteen years and two children that is so readily and immediately discernible that initially it becomes difficult to proceed. And you quickly realize that it’s because “The Story of Us,” directed by Rob Reiner, is indeed a story about loss, which is something that affects everyone in some way or another, at one time or another, and depending upon your personal frame of reference and experience, it’s a story that is going to affect you on any number of levels. Because loss comes in many forms; sometimes it leaves nothing more than a blip on the surface of your Moon, while at other times it leaves a gaping crater on the landscape of your World, and whichever it is in your case, this film is going to address it and perhaps make you revisit a time or place that maybe you’ve locked away in the dim recesses of your memory for better or worse. One thing is certain, this film is going to make you take pause and reflect for a moment or two. Because “Us,” anyway you slice it, is a film about you and me.