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Twice in a Lifetime (1985)

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11 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Powerful actors' piece, 18 November 2001

Author: moonspinner55 from redlands, ca

At the beginning of "Twice in a Lifetime", when the McKenzie family is sitting around the dining room table celebrating, Ellen Burstyn gives long-time husband Gene Hackman a kiss, but nobody notices how he recoils a bit from her affection or how shaky his smile appears. Here is a well-made dramatic piece for a group of terrific actors, asking us to look at all sides of a divorce, offering only a few pat answers but mostly moving sequences. Hackman quickly falls into a loving relationship--which can be seen as possibly too convenient--but the woman in question is Ann-Margret at her most vivacious, so we can forgive the formula. Burstyn's character goes through the standard changes of the jilted wife, yet the talents of this wonderful actress helps transcend the clichés of such a role(she even gives it subtext and meaning; a movie about this character alone would be worth-watching). Amy Madigan's angry daughter is an overwrought creation, a one-note role, and the way she's written and directed we don't see any nuances--just her irritation. Still, many fine ingredients are included here, and the supporting players are wonderful(particularly Brian Dennehy, always good, and Ally Sheedy). Alternately tough and tender, the emotions played out at the finale are concrete--they make sense--giving this film the edge over similar pictures such as "Smash Palace" and "Shoot The Moon".

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9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Forgotten 80's flick, 1 May 2001
Author: Jon (ssgtjon@hotmail.com) from San Antonio, Texas

This is an excellent time filler about a suburban Seattle steel worker who's life seems happy on a technical level, but dead on a personal one and falls for a sexy barmaid at the local pub on his 50th birthday and leaves his family for her. There are no standard heroes or villains and each character is presented very convincingly. Gene Hackman is fine as always and Ellen Burstyn as his homely wife is reminiscent from her role in "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore", learning how to start over. Amy Madigan is outstanding as his hotheaded daughter who's husband is out of work and having to have their family live with her parents. What I really found interesting was the films portrayal of everyday life of a decent, ordinary family so rare in movies today.

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8 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Well-acted blue collar angst., 14 January 2002

Author: jckruize from North Hemis

Gene Hackman plays a man in midlife crisis: he's been married to boring Ellen Burstyn for like, forever, and he's just met hottie Ann-Margret in the local bar he frequents. What's a guy to do? Go after the babe, of course!

This thin Colin Welland script (British screenwriter of the overrated CHARIOTS OF FIRE) is elevated considerably by Hackman's convincing portrayal of a blue-collar Everyman who's mortgaged his life for work and family to the exclusion of any dreams for himself. The decidedly unmelodramatic arc of his life change and its consequences is relatively rare in American films and is more watchable for it. Look for newcomer Amy Madigan lighting up the screen as Hackman's p****d-off but devoted daughter. A wistful Pat Metheny score and Nick McLean's cinematography of unglamorous Seattle locations -- back before it became America's trendiest city -- enhance the verisimilitude. A low-key and effective directing job by Bud Yorkin, Norman Lear's former producing partner. Worth a look for Hackman/Burstyn/Margret fans.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Brilliant performances anchor this warm family drama..., 8 February 2007

Author: Isaac5855 from United States

TWICE IN A LIFETIME is an emotionally-charged family drama that, despite a somewhat muddled screenplay, still works thanks to some solid gold performances. Gene Hackman plays a Seattle steelworker who loves the Seahawks and seems content with his life as he prepares for the wedding of his younger daughter (Ally Sheedy), but still feels something missing in his life. His private mid-life crises move him to leave his devoted wife (Ellen Burstyn) and begin a relationship with a local barmaid (Ann-Margret). His wife resigns herself to his decision but his elder daughter (Amy Madigan) does not and refuses to let Dad off the hook. The screenplay is safe and predictable, but what makes this film worth watching is the powerhouse performances. Hackman's quiet and powerful turn as a man dealing with being at a crossroad he doesn't know how to handle' Burstyn's beautifully-realized vulnerability as the woman who is at a loss as to what went wrong in her marriage and Madigan, in a performance that earned her an Oscar nomination, icy and gripping as the daughter who refuses to accept her parents' divorce. Watching these wonderful actors take you through the roller-coaster of emotions involved in the rending apart of a family, make this movie something very special.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Quite an accomplishment, 23 September 2005

Author: asc85 from Mercer County, NJ

"Twice in a Lifetime" is one of only two films I have ever seen that is successful in showing lead characters who are both likable and unlikeable at different points in the movie...that is, showing the full range of what makes us "human." The other movie, by the way, was "Shoot the Moon," and I was surprised to see that someone else on this board also found similarities between the two.

I see some thought that Amy Madigan's "Sunny" character was too over-the-top, but I found her riveting and compelling. Others obviously did too, as I believe she was the most nominated actor/actress from this film.

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Great acting does not save it..., 14 June 2007

Author: pljewkes from Boston, MA

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

An extremely well-acted but ultimately dull soap opera featuring Gene Hackman as middle class man who leaves devoted wife Ellen Burstyn for aging sexpot Ann-Margret. Director Bud Yorkin, who once had a sense of humor, has made such a didactic film that it quickly bores when it should intrigue. Nevertheless, the acting is the thing here and it's informally first rate. Hackman, then appearing in virtually every film released, is great and so are Burstyn and Ann-Margret. Amy Madigan steals the film as Hackman's bitter daughter...she lets loose with the anger that Burstyn bottles up. Unfortunately, for them (and us), the film is little more than TV-movie level stuff...it would be easy to picture the film being made with Barry Bostwick, Meredith Baxter, and Donna Mills.

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3 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
A divorce movie that starts great but ?, 29 September 2003
Author: fuzzyfeller from USA

This movie had some great moments and good laughs too. Gene Hackman and Brian Dennehy hit it off as middle aged pals(Harry and Nick) dealing with life and marriage.Suddenly the always gorgeous Ann Margret(Audrey) shows up as a saucy barmaid in their local watering hole and Harry gets enamored. I found his reactions very realistic.Now the reason I feel why this movie didnt win any awards for acting (although Amy Madigan got nominated for best supp actress by the Academy no one else did) The character of Harry's boring old maid wife. Kate, played by Ellen Burstyn is the main reason this movie sagged and brought down the performances of Hackman,Dennehy and the rest.Her part is badly underwritten and Ellen Burstyn simply cannot do anything with this role but whine and act like an old fart,she has done better in other movies. Now back to the story -Seems Kate feels that she doesnt deserve the dumping she gets , how can we have any sympathy for her when she never shows any affection to him and is more excited about housework or gameshows.Again the part is badly underwritten. Gene Hackman is terrific as the bored and lonely husband who finds new love in sexy Ann Margret. Amy Madigan(Sunny) is the p***ed off daughter who attacks her father every chance she gets , like she doesnt realize her mother was a dull boring unpassionate woman. The other daughter Helen played wonderfully by Ally Sheedy understands her fathers feelings and sympathizes as does his son Keith(Stephen Lang) who tries to tell Sunny that her mothers letters never mentioned his father unless the roof blew off.

There are some very painful and uncomfortable scenes which I think in reality may have been done differently , like the confrontation in the bar between Harry,Audrey,Kate ,Sunny and her daughter. Sunny tells her mother to go into the bar and confront her father who is in the bar chatting with Audrey and Nick is telling Harry he is really screwing up ,Harry tells him to go j/o somewhere.So here comes Kate and Sunny with the granddaughter in tow into the bar , sunny ends up yelling and screaming and the granddaughter ends up in the middle ,couldnt they have spared her this and also the embarrassment.Sunny then tells Audrey to leave her father the hell alone. Meanwhile Harry drags Kate outside to yell some more.Audreys's boss tells her shes fired. I'm sure this scene may be realistic to some but i think most people would have avoided the reality tv approach to it,they currently have a tv show called caught on tape and then they have confrontations with the cheater and his jilted spouse,,awful.This scene just didnt wash with me.

It all comes down to this,Lets face it , Kate has become an old maid who finds nothing exciting about her husband anymore, he even tries to spice up their sex by grabbing her in the bathrom and what does she do ,oh dont do that silly. And yet she feels she didnt deserve to get dumped , why ? throughout the beginning and middle of the movie she never once tells her husband she loves him ,tries to work with him or even care about him.Its all about how bad Harry is and how scandalous his affair is,True he could have gone about it more discreetly but the wifes whining that she didnt deserve to get dumped on is unbelievable ,the writers never give her character a chance to prove this , all she comes across as is a boring ,dull,uncaring wife who gets dumped and then cries because her husband doeant love her anymore. At least we know why he doesnt love her anymore but how can we sympathize with her character being dumped when she does nothing but act like a bored tired old maid who has no interest in her husband or life.And the way they handled the fathers leaving ,he has a talk with Kate upstairs before going .She says ,its about sex isnt it and that Audrey is newer younger than her , Harry says of course its sex but also I feel alive again ,i cant stay here with you anymore.And when he goes to leave the house, the kids are all downstairs watching in silence, geez couldnt they have left the room or something ,it was like a firing squad Only after he leaves her do we see her get a new job and a makeover ,she also goes to a male stripper bar ,i guess we are supposed to believe thats her sexual rebirth . The only time we have any feelings for her is when she is working in the beauty shop and one of her customer friends mentions how her divorce was a blessing and that her husband was a sh** and asked how Kate's husband was ,she finally admits that he wasnt a sh** ,that something in their marriage had died a long time ago,he knew it but she was too blind to see it. The movie suffers from one sidedness.it is very against the father and he ends up being portrayed as a two timing cheat in this small town.To me the wife is the problem ,, the writers do not give her character enough depth ,she never gets the chance to show us why she should be given another chance, I could not see why anyone would care about her,yet most people in the town side with her not knowing how trapped and unloved she made her husband feel.

Too many stupid scenes with the wife hurt this movie ,One scene in the middle of the movie has Helen getting fitted for her wedding dress and Sunny says oh mom youd take him back if he came back here.And Kate says he is your father and my husband ,it would be my choice whether or not Id take him back.Excuse me hello, he left you sweetie ,my my arent you selfish ,like hes going to beg her to take him back. All throughout this move,the husband is made to look like a lech while the wife is this poor hurt betrayed thing, if the writers had fleshed out her character and given us a reason to sympathize with her ,the movie would have worked better. Even at the end of the movie, the ex wife doesnt want Harry to be at the wedding or the reception ,sunny very coldly tells him outside the church that she does not want to talk to him.At least the other daughter and son react more believably and still love him .I think she was blind as well,and did not want her mommy and daddy to split also afraid of her own marriage failing ,i didnt like the way they had her mean and cold when the other siblings were so understanding ,i mean her brother tells here ,where have you been a hole in the ground ,mom doesnt love dad anymore, get over it . Ellen Burstyn's whiny overracting and the fact that the wifes role was terribly underwritten is why this movie did not do better at the Oscars.Still worth a watch definitely for Gene Hackman and Ally Sheedy, they have a scene on the porch which is one of the best in the movie.2 1/2 stars out of four

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2 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
I had to see this movie a few times before I realized how much it p***ed me off, 13 June 2004
Author: Vibiana from Kansas, U.S.A.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This review contains SPOILERS.

Here's the plot in a nutshell: workin' stiff Gene Hackman is a blue-collar warrior who spends his days (or whatever shift he's assigned) in a rough-and-tumble Seattle steel mill. (I didn't even know Seattle HAD steel mills, but whatever). In his off hours, he heads to the Shamrock tavern to hoist a few with his similarly blue-collar buddies, Brian Dennehy among them. The Shamrock is presided over by Micole Mercurio, who seems to shine in these Harley Mama roles (she even played one in "Mask.") As the movie begins, Micole's hired a new waitress, Ann-Margret.

It's Gene Hackman's fiftieth birthday, and his wife of thirty-plus years, Ellen Burstyn, has gathered two of their three children, daughters Amy Madigan (in a role so marinated in anger that it makes your teeth ache, plus she's got the worst haircut in the free world) and Ally Sheedy, for a family celebration at home. Amy's 28, married young to a workin' stiff like Dear Old Dad, but things are unraveling -- we all recall how the Reagan administration loved steelworkers. So hubby's mostly laid off, and that means Amy is already pissed off. What happens during this movie doesn't put her in any better of a mood.

Ally Sheedy is seven or eight years younger, has a boyfriend who's about to become a fiancé, and has decided rather than trying to go through the traditional college route, to marry and go to night school, much to her older sister's vexation. There is a son who lives in San Diego and isn't seen until about halfway through the movie, first on a visit to be there for his mother when Dad leaves her and then for his kid sister's wedding.

Ellen Burstyn works in a beauty shop during the day, and we get the impression that hers is one of those old-fashioned marriages where her husband spends a lot of time out with the boys while she socializes with her grown daughters and other women from work or church. Yet it appears that she and her husband have a sort of contentedness to their union, and until Ann-Margret punches in for her first night at the Shamrock, all seems to be well. Ellen begs off for the evening at the Shamrock, so Gene goes alone. It appears the scriptwriters see Ellen's action as some symbolic "I'm sending my husband out alone so if he cheats I deserve it" message.

Down at the tavern, Gene Hackman and Brian Dennehy flirt good-naturedly with Ann-Margret for a bit, then Micole asks the birthday boy for a dance (inexplicably, since the song is almost over, but whatever). Then Gene asks Ann-Margret to dance, to which she replies, "I'd rather have a kiss," which he is only too eager to bestow. Next morning, he's meeting her in a shopping mall parking lot to spend one of those "new romance" days together, walking around the park, eating ice cream cones, etc.

A previous reviewer really savaged Ellen Burstyn's character, alleging that anyone as boring and homebodyish as her should just about EXPECT to get dumped. While I agree with him that Ellen's character was insufficiently developed, I can't agree that Gene Hackman was portrayed as a rat. The whole movie seemed to take it for granted that the affair "just happened," and that therefore Gene and Ann-Margret were blameless. Not in my book. One of the most hilarious moments is when, three or four days into the affair, a friend of Ellen's sees Gene and Ann-Margret in his car and tells Ellen about it. When Ellen confronts Gene, he goes to Ann-Margret, saying he told Ellen that the affair was "separate" from the marriage. (Well, duh, partner. That's why it's wrong. Whatever ...) Anyhoo, Ann-Margret reacts with proper outrage, but it's not because Gene is screwing around on his wife. Oh, no, it's because Gene won't dump his wife for her. "If we're to make it, it's got to be JUST YOU AND ME, and no one else," she huffs. Gee, I'll bet his wife thinks the same thing.

In short order, Gene leaves Ellen and moves into a rathole apartment downtown. Ellen is catatonic with grief for a time, then after a triumphant night at the bingo hall, she goes back to work at the beauty shop, gets a makeover, and goes to her first Chippendales bar. The plot puts her to work sewing dresses for Ally's wedding, and that's pretty much it for Ellen's character until the very last scene when she finally speaks up for herself (it's one of the finest moments in the movie). I would have found it a lot more interesting if the movie had focused on Ellen's putting her life back together, rather than throwing a rosy spotlight on the affair between Gene and Ann-Margret.

Perhaps one reason I was so critical of Amy Madigan's character is that her anger was so understandable. At the end of the movie, when Gene attempts to speak to her on the sidewalk in front of the church where Ally just got married, Amy tells him "This isn't the time and it isn't the place," and stalks off. Gene watches everyone leave, then intercepts the florist who's carrying out flowers to grab a few for Ann-Margret. Not only a cheater, but a cheap cheater at that. Doesn't it make you get all misty?

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2 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
You'll be sorry..., 3 June 2003

Author: RealScience from Los Angeles, CA

When the mopey Gene Hackman reaches the point where he has to choose between two whiny, irritating women-- his wife played by Ellen Burstyn, and his mistress played by Ann-Margaret-- you'll wish he'd just dump both of them and run away.

Add to this Amy Madigan's grating, one-note, Oscar-nominated (!) performance and you have a movie you'll want to turn off halfway through. My recommendation? Do it. Turn it off. There must be an kitchen-gadget infomercial on TV or SOMETHING better to watch.

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