Peter McGinn

I watched this for the first way back in the 80s, a few years after it came out. I remember I liked it then, though not as much as another Alda film, Sweet Liberty, which seems hard to find these days. The Four Seasons feels more obvious to me this time around, probably an unfair comparison because of having seen it once and because I am obviously a different person with many more layers of experience added on after all this time. For starters, I have written many novels over the years, and that has changed how I look at movie plots, I believe. Anyway, parts of this movie are still very good. There is an undeniable chemistry between some of the main characters, starting with Alan Alda and Carol Burnett’s couple. The banter is great at times, though occasionally repetitious. Growth in the characters seems very slow usually, which may be part of the point. We seem to take a long time getting to Alda’s character’s breakout moment, which the entire film points towards. I would have liked to see more done with Lisa’s depressed character as I felt left hanging there. Interesting that she was played by Alan Alda’s daughter. And it was also interesting to see Rita Moreno in an early role, having seen her recently in 80 for Brady and knowing I knew her but not knowing exactly from where. So it is a good film, perhaps with not quite as much depth as it signals that it will have. It feels a bit stagnated waiting for the big moment by Alan Alda’s repressed character.