Tuesday, January 02, 2024

Movie review - "Oliver's Story" (1978) **

 Love Story made so much money Paramount would have considered it rude not to make a sequel, so they did, ponying up big money for Ryan O'Neal to come back.

But the question is, where to go? Do you give him a terminal disease? Have him find love with another girl who gets sick? Throw in a kid? You've got the two dads back (hers is played by a different actor).. but there's not enough in that for another movie.

John Korty, best known for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pickman, came in to direct and co write. He didn't do a very good job.

There's no point to the film. No conflict. O'Neal is mourning MacGraw, that's fine. Gets set up by friends Charles Haig and Swoozie Kurtz who seem like they're going to be fun, and are, but aren't in the film enough. Anyway the girl Nicole Paggett is dull but nice and he doesn't see her again. He runs into Candice Bergen, sparks fly, he goes out. Turns out she's... rich. So there's no rich-poor conflict. No dad-unhappy conflict.

O'Neal and Bergen go to Hong Kong for some pretty photos. I started to day dream maybe it would turn into Emmanuelle (Bergen takes photographs of models)... that would've livened things up.

John Korty whinged Paramount made him change his ending (where O'Neal hooked up with someone else) but the film isn't good. I mean maybe that was better than what's here - the film just ends - but I don't think that's the problem.

Bergen says that "Jenny is always with us" but you never sense that from their scenes. They flirt. Get along. They have sex it's no big deal. She's not that into him. He's not that into her. It's so hard to care. There's too many scenes with a shrink. There's a terrible sub plot about a housing estate or something. They don't use the dads. Everyon's getting along at the start.

This film was pointless. No wonder it's so forgotten.

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