Sunday, July 7, 2013

Chapter Two (1979)

Director: Robert Moore                                  Writer: Neil Simon
Film Score: Marvin Hamlish                           Cinematography: David M. Walsh
Starring: James Caan, Marsha Mason, Joe Bologna and Valerie Harper

A lot of people dislike this film and it would make sense that I wouldn’t like it either. For me, Neil Simon is hit and miss. Same goes for James Caan. And I really don’t like Marsha Mason very much. And yet . . . I find Chapter Two an incredibly endearing film. Again, this might be due to the fact that I first saw it in the theater when it came out, but there’s also something about the relationship between the two main characters, James Caan and Marsha Mason, that I enjoyed seeing. As with all of Simon’s work, the story is based on his personal life, in this case the death of his first wife and the beginning of his relationship with . . . yep, Marsha Mason, the only woman to be nominated for an Oscar for playing herself.

The story begins with Caan returning from Europe after the death of his wife. Inexplicably, he had been retracing the route of his honeymoon, something that seems incredibly masochistic, and so when he arrives home it’s no surprise that the last thing on his mind would be pursuing a new relationship. His brother, Joe Bologna, has different ideas, however, and begins setting him up on a series of disappointing dates. At the same time, Marsha Mason is recently divorced and her best friend, Valerie Harper, is setting her up with likely candidates as well. Bologna and Harper had been in a relationship in the past and when they meet and he sees Mason, he naturally gives Caan her number. In a nice scene he accidentally calls her and eventually they wind up agreeing to a five-minute date.

Of course they fall for each other and begin a whirlwind romance. But with Caan still keeping the house he and his wife shared, and going with Mason to the same vacation spots that he and his wife visited, it’s a recipe for disaster. What follows is probably the worst part of the film. Caan becomes sullen and withdrawn and Mason will not stop talking. But while in some ways this can be seen as tedious relationship dialogue, there is also a fascinating element of truth to the whole thing, not to mention a built-in dynamic of failure as she desperately attempts to convince him to stay with her. Because so much of that attempt feels wrong, it somehow feels more real than most films.

In many respects, this is a very specific kind of film that was made in the late seventies and early eighties. It was really inspired by Woody Allen and his relationship films, and then taken on by Simon and others like Alan Alda in The Four Seasons. Eventually it would be the inspiration for certain romantic comedies like When Harry Met Sally, where the best friends wind up in a relationship together, and where one of the principals can’t get a cab and winds up running down the streets of New York to the other at the end of the film. In that respect it is a very important bridge to modern romcoms and regardless of the perceived lack of artistry, Chapter Two holds a meaningful place in film history. It is certainly an artifact of its time, but it is also a film that I really enjoy.

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