David Denby

“…. [Alda] writes solid roles for women… But there's a dullness at the heart of the movie….

“…. [T]his material might have been turned into a juicy, semi-scandalous melodrama about the erotic excitements of power or an entertaining study of public decency and private swinishness, but instead Alda uses the situation for displays of agonized virtue. All the major characters are so well-meaning!…. [H]is mistress is turned on by sex with a powerful man, but she's not a bitch or a home wrecker either, and she withdraws without making a scene when she understands that Tynan still loves his wife. In other words, the movie is paralyzed by too much respect for its characters--a highly unusual defect, I admit.

“…. [M]ainly [director Schatzberg] holds the camera in close for solemn character confrontations, heading straight down the center of the most obvious emotions. Fortunately, the acting is so good you never get bored. Barbara Harris is trying for a new Lee Grantish solidity and seriousness, but she still puts little curlicues in even the most earnest lines. Meryl Streep, on the other hand, has already surpassed Faye Dunaway as the archetypal blond shiksa, yet she is still so fresh for us that every smile or dip of the head feels like a revelation. It's nice to see her as a tough, wily, aggressive woman; indeed, the flashes of avidity breaking through her southern-lady's gaiety and charm in this role make one long for her to cast off niceness altogether. Schatzberg doesn't release everything she's got, but in one shot he gives her Garbo-like star treatment--a long, long close-up as she slowly extends her face toward Alda for their first adulterous kiss. Watching that sinuous swan neck, you hold your breath--the moment is like some romantic epiphany from a thirties classic.

“Such pleasure aside, the movie is an exercise in high-mindedness….”

David Denby
New York, September 3, 1979