Twice in a Lifetime

In the cast list there is a Ken Clark as "the flower man". That is not the KEN CLARK that made Many Euro-Spy and Sword & Sandal movies in the 1960s. I rented the movie and can confirm that this is a grave mistake. IMDB won't correct this error.

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.

On his 50th birthday, a Seattle factor worker meets an attractive bar maid and falls in lust with her, leaving his family for her. The acting is excellent, particularly Hackman as the man having a middle-age crisis, Burstyn as his devoted wife, and Madigan as their angry daughter. Unfortunately, the film feels stale, a tiresome rehash of a theme that has been covered too often. With a clichéd script and plodding direction, it feels like a TV movie. The first half is particularly bad, as it tries too hard to establish Hackman as a good guy in a dead-end marriage. It gets better after that, but is ultimately less than satisfying.

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 uniformally 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.

Gene Hackman plays a guy 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 man to do? This thin Colin Welland script (British screenwriter of the overrated CHARIOTS OF FIRE) is enlivened 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 interesting for it. Look for newcomer Amy Madigan lighting up the screen as Hackman's PO'd 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 authentic feel. Bud Yorkin, Norman Lear's former producing partner, directs to good low-key effect. Worth a look for Hackman/Burstyn/Margret fans.

"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.