Never Again (2001)

Director:

Eric Schaeffer

Writer:

Eric Schaeffer (writer)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Some people will try anything... even falling in love.

Plot:

Two people who have pledged never to fall in love again then discover each other in a gay bar.

Plot Keywords:

Gay Bar | Love | Male Female Relationship | Independent Film

Cast

Jeffrey Tambor	...	Christopher
Jill Clayburgh	...	Grace
Caroline Aaron	...	Elaine
Bill Duke	...	Earl
Sandy Duncan	...	Natasha
Michael McKean	...	Alex The Transvestite
Dan'l Linehan	...	Leather Go-Go Boy
Bill Weeden	...	Mr. Speedy
Eric Axen	...	Male College Go-Go Boy
David Bailey	...	Chad
Trazana Beverley	...	Night Nurse
Tom Cappadona	...	Waiter
Caitlin Clarke	...	Allison
India Cooper	...	Nurse
Peter Dinklage	...	Harry Appleton

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexual content including graphic dialogue, and for language.

Runtime:

USA:98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | USA:R | Australia:MA

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Five Minutes Before the Miracle

Quotes:

Grace: You're the one who told me to have sex!
Elaine: Sex like a normal person! Not like a porn star!

Movie Connections:

References Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977)

For liberated 50-something women

A romantic farce with complications. The movie loves its over-50 characters yet presents them behaving ridiculously in outrageous situations.

Core to "Never Again" is the perspective and experience of liberated, divorced, over-50 women with sexual relationships. These are presumed and exemplified without being examined. Under 25 women, even the heroine's daughter, show themselves to be inert, callow dolts. Their parents live vivid lives with humor and pain, joy and despair, wit and incredulity, dignity and abnegation. So the generational roles are reversed from the usual teenage romantic comedy; that will keep a lot of viewers away. Additionally, the movie frankly talks and pictures frank abundant and diverse sex, which will keep a lot of over-25 women away.

The movie's topic, two individuals in a romantic relationship, interests woman most, but structurally the movie is presented as symmetrical among the genders, with an early alternation between the lives and concerns of its male and female leads. Further, both have friends who are core to the movie: the other half of a jazz duet in the case of Christopher and two close gabbies for Grace. In the end, though, "women do more of everything," as Christopher's buddy says, and our hero confesses to Grace that "you were right about everything," so we are back to women-centric starting place.

Curiously, the words do not match the deeds portrayed. While Grace complains (and we are supposed to agree) that Christopher has a standard Madonna/whore complex about women, nothing of the sort is pictured. Rather, the relationship starts in sex, and he comes to love and appreciate her fully through what is revealed in sex and develops as part of sex. Again, while Christopher supposedly fears intimacy, no fear is actually shown -- he relishes intimacy and honesty (and has a male friendship exemplifying these) and the under 25 women bore him because they offer neither. Instead, threats to the relationship come from the constraints of social context -- the daughter, the friends, and the social demands to be insincere and superficial. When these press in, Christopher starts having second thoughts.

Claybaugh is outstanding -- I haven't laughed so hard in years as I did at her strap-on scene. What would the part look like performed with less skill and charm? Unpleasant, perhaps. Grace carelessly injures her daughter, her friends, and her boyfriend whenever things don't go exactly her way. The farce, the happy ending, the acting, and the perspective all move attention away from the heroine's actual problems. She is brave, inventive and winsome, and we over-50 males are happy to fall in love with her.