Curtain Call (1999)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Peter Yates

Writers:

Andrew S. Karsch (story)
Todd Alcott (writer)

Genre:

Fantasy | Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

A spirited romance.

Plot:

A bachelor afraid of marriage angers his long-time girlfriend by buying a splendid townhouse just for himself...

Plot Keywords:

Commitment | Marriage | Ghost | Publishing House | Supernatural

Cast

James Spader	...	Stevenson Lowe
Polly Walker	...	Julia
Michael Caine	...	Max Gale
Maggie Smith	...	Lily Marlowe
Buck Henry	...	Charles Van Allsburg
Sam Shepard	...	Will Dodge
Frank Whaley	...	Brett Conway
Marcia Gay Harden	...	Michelle Tippet
Frances Sternhagen	...	Amy
Peter Maloney	...	Maurice
Nicky Silver	...	Lee
Phyllis Somerville	...	Gladys
Julianne Nicholson	...	Sandra Hewson
Susan Berman	...	Miriam
Todd Alcott	...	Larry

Also Known As:

It All Came True (USA) (working title)
Later Life (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.

Runtime:

USA:94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Iceland:L | Spain:T | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Longfellow Pictures

Trivia:

This is cinematographer Sven Nykvist's final film. The Swedish cameraman who was made legendary through his collaboration with Ingmar Bergman was already at the time of shooting suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

Quotes:

Max Gale: Uggamus iggamas, man is polygamist. Uggamus oggamas, woman monogamist.

Soundtrack:

When Buddha Smiles

An entertaining and likable romantic comedy

This movie was on TV the other afternoon and I decided to give it a go. I'm not usually a fan of these type of movies but I sat down to watch this willing to ignore its flaws and just be entertained.

I was entertained. Sure, it's not laugh-out-loud funny. It's utterly predictable. It's gimmicky. That's the type of movie it is. You have to meet it on its own terms and if you do that, you're likely to have a fun time.

James Spader stars as a selfish bachelor who buys a new luxurious house to anger his long-time girlfriend because he is afraid of commitment. When he moves in he begins to be haunted by the ghosts of two former classical actors (Michael Caine and Maggie Smith), who instill morals and so on and so forth, giving him friendly advice.

Yeah, I know, it's a pretty lame plot, but it works - mainly thanks to Caine and Smith, whose chemistry together really sparks. I'd recommend this to anyone who's just looking for some decent entertainment, not a masterpiece of the genre or anything - just a film to help pass the time, which this does; it's not insulting and it doesn't try to be anything it isn't.