User reviews

This is a funny movie with some smart dialog and a couple adults in adult situations for a change. Thoroughly enjoyable. Dryfus is in control and not doing his "cute" routine. Davis is believable and always nice to see an old vet like Fred Ward. Sometimes you just have to sit back and enjoy a movie and be entertained.In an era of movies pandering to functional illiterates with the attention span of a bi-polar humming bird on crank, it's enjoyable to see a movie with people actually speaking to each other in complete sentences. Or if it isn't your style, there is always the latest Ben Stiller movie. I understand there is a hum dinger staring a blind ferret.

"Coast to Coast" sticks Dreyfuss and Davis front and center as a middle-aged couple on the verge of divorce who take a road trip from East to West coasts to attend their son's marriage while waxing nostalgic, visiting quirky friends, and sorting through old regrets along the way. Supposedly a poignant dramedy about reconciliation, this lame dose of couch potato fodder from Showtime has Toronto standing in for the US and a big hole where the entertainment should be. One can only speculate that budgetary constraints got between the cast and crew and a quality film product result. Coulda-shoulda been better, "Coast to Coast" is an uneven, uninspired nice-try-but-no-cigar near miss. (C)

Barney and maxine (richard dreyfuss, judy davis) decide to drive across country to attend their son's wedding. What bickering, separated couple would do that?? Although the way they talk to prospective buyers of their house seems like they don't really want anyone to buy it. They stop to visit with friends and family along the way to LA, and all sorts of things happen. Good and bad. Can they work out their differences by the time they get back to the east coast? It's a roadtrip movie with sides of humor, happiness, and sadness thrown in. Not bad. Directed by paul mazursky. Based on the book by frederic raphael.

This is certainly an enjoyable movie with some very sharp witty remarks scattered throughout the dialogue.

The main criticisms I have are:

1. The awful music score. It sounds as though it was put together on a cheap and nasty electronic keyboard. It grated on me throughout the film.

2. Some of the longer scenes of two people talking to each other were just too long. A cut-away or two would have relieved the tedium. Yes, the 'conversations' were, in the main, very relevant to the plot, but were just too long. A few more snips with the scissors in the editing room would not have gone amiss.

3. Those infernal maps! Ugh! They lent a real 'cheap and nasty' air to the movie, which was a pity.

As far as I'm concerned, the 'test' for a good movie is whether I will watch it again or not. This one scores scores a definite 'maybe'.

It was inspired casting in the pairing of Richard Dreyfuss and Judy Davis as Barnaby and Maxine Pierce, a middle-aged married couple on a trek by car from the East to the West coasts. The ostensible purpose of their auto trip is to attend their son's wedding in Los Angeles. At the same time, the couple is contemplating a divorce and is still in recovery from the death of one of their children many years ago. The film reaches for over-the-top comedy in the couple's cross-country reunion with old friends and lovers while simultaneously expressing a painful undercurrent with the couple's long struggle to recover from their personal tragedy.

The film juggles the comedic and dramatic styles with uneven results. The best scenes are the comic escapades, such as the visit to Minneapolis where the parents greet their daughter (Selma Blair), who introduces them to her latest fiance (John Salley) and announces that she is carrying another man's child. When the banter is brisk and lively, Dreyfuss and Davis are in fine form, recalling Hepburn and Tracy in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?"

But when the mood turns downbeat, the actors flounder with dramatic material that does not ring true to their characters. For example, it made no sense when the couple visited Denver and Davis' character Maxine was reunited with her ex-lover. There was even the suggestion that Maxine might remarry the Denver cop (Fred Ward) whose character is not only married, but is frighteningly abrasive. It was implausible that someone with the intelligence of Maxine would find any appeal in an unpleasant character with a hair-trigger temper. It was puzzling as well that the two adult children of Barnaby and Maxine seemed wiser than their world-weary parents and were all-too-ready to provide grief therapy. In any family system, those two children would need to deal with the loss of their sibling, just like their parents.

The careful balancing of a comic style with a tragic undercurrent was achieved brilliantly in Edward Albee's play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", which deals a couple's presumed loss of a child while concurrently delivering the dark humor. "Coast to Coast" stretches, but falls substantially short of Albee's powerful style. In a single sequence in the L.A. portion of the film, Barnaby first insults his son's female boss in a hotel lobby; the boss subsequently forgives Barnaby unconditionally when she learns that he is the father of her employee; and, in the next scene, Barnaby is openly weeping in a restaurant, causing the other patrons to gawk at him. Are these scenes supposed to be funny or serious?

The emotional roller coaster ride stretches credibility due to the weak dialogue, which, in this film, resembles slapdash sitcom writing. And it was especially disappointing in the film medium that there was not more footage of the colorful locations of the cross-country trip (other than a recurring map of U.S.A. shown to the viewer), as Barnaby and Maxine forge their way across the country. There was never a dull moment on this coast-to-coast trip. But the ride was bumpy and uneven.

My wife and I discovered this movie (accidentally) when TiVo recorded it for us. We noticed the great cast so decided to give it a try. It had us captivated right from the start.

No formula TV movie here. Coast to Coast is refreshingly original; doesn't neatly fit into any particular genre. It was both very funny and emotional, yet felt true-to-life.

This is a movie made by intelligent people for intelligent people. We particularly enjoyed the witty dialogue and the wonderful characters Dreyfuss and Davis meet along their journey. These are two great actors at their best.

Lately, it seems that good movies are few and far between, so this was a real treat for us.

While Dreyfuss made this fairly entertaining, it was tough to get through the first hour. Despite the star power they really went cheap on the locations and instead displayed a ridiculous map to try and cover for it. I felt like I was watching a play and not once did I get lost in the characters and/or stop realizing they were acting. Judy Davis as she did throughout the 90s, plays the same role, faking an American accent (was an American actress not available?). I didn't believe for a minute that she would be married to Dreyfuss or was someone who would live in Connecticut. The supposed funny parts were not funny and the ending was telegraphed early on.

Richard Dreyfuss and Judy Davis shine in this contemporary story of a couple whose marriage has literally gone astray, part in fact due to the infidelity of both partners and the fact that their eldest son was killed in a car accident 8 years before.

Davis looks like she has really gone through the ringer here. As the emotionally distraught, she depicts an emotional and psychological hang-up which is certainly memorable. She is equally matched by Dreyfuss, who also pulls no punches as the husband.

They plan to end their marriage by going out to Los Angeles to attend the wedding of their surviving son and making important stops along the way. These stops are memorable as they depict the sudden demise of the co-writer, wittingly played by director Paul Mazursky. There is also the daughter, not married, pregnant girl who has broken up with the baby's father to only start a new relationship with a basketball player.

This is definitely a poignant story brought to the screen by great performances as well as a sharp dialogue.

The musical score is wonderful here.

The biggest turn off in this film was Judy Davis, starting with her hair. It was so godawful it was a huge distraction. She's not that attractive to begin with. I never cared for her, don't see why people think she's talented. I've only seen her play sour puss roles, which okay she is good at playing but, not likeable. Sure, she's supposed to be bitter since her husband cheated on her, in their be bed no less. Thought this would be somewhat of a comedy but, it was just a tragedy, an unrealistic one. I liked the dog, fine actor, handsome fellow. Dreyfuss is always at least interesting, but he wasn't likeable either. So, after they leave the dog at her sister's, there was no reason to continue this drag of a movie. Bickering I already know.