VHS : Miami Rhapsody [1995]

Rating: - Sarah Jessica pre Sex and the City
In writer/director David Frankel's film, Sarah Jessica Parker agrees to marry Gil Bellows, only to uncover the infidelities which infest her family. In spite of a large cast, Frankel sets up scenes between two people at a time which makes the narrative more about character than ensemble acting. The snappy dialogue, jazz on the soundtrack, careful attention to lighting and the casting of Mia Farrow all recall good (ie earlier) Woody Allen. It also features the most kissing scene I've ever seen. Parker appears in almost every scene and this overexposure works since she is such a natural and likeable actress. Wearing Gorgon hair and sexually adrogynous, she resembles Bette Midler and shares Midler's gift for delivering throwaway barbs. Frankel only asks her to get serious once, when she reacts to news of Bellows leaving her, and the force of her emotion hints at her dramatic mettle. Bellows is a surprise too, much sexier than in Love and a .45. Frankel seems to have a thing for dark handsome men with hairy chests as all the male leads are the same type. As Parker's mother, Farrow is quite touching and this is partly due to the goodwill the audience extends to her because of the nature of her split from Allen. Unfortunately, she seems badly matched with Paul Mazursky as her husband, whose heaviness is in counterpoint to the lightness of the other actors. As Farrow's lover, Antonio Banderas seems ill at ease and the director doesn't photograph him as lovingly as he does Bellows. Naomi Campbell turns up in a few scenes and although she is beautiful she tends to perform like a Thunderbirds puppet. What is refreshing is that Frankel suberts the obvious. When Bellows and Parker separate we groan thinking she is now free to take up with Banderas who has broken up with Farrow, but things don't end up that way. The film sags near the end but then Frankel gives us a shot of Parker in front of a mirror so that we can just look at her. You know he can write because he is confident enough to film two dialogues in darkness, and he uses flashbacks with humour and brevity. One directorial err - when a gush of wind blows Parker's hair across her face we miss an important reaction to an insult.