04/04/97
MOVIE REVIEW: That Old Feeling
'That Old Feeling' is a sinking one

By MICHAEL JANUSONIS
Journal-Bulletin Arts Writer

** (out of five)
Starring Bette Midler, Dennis Farina, Paula Marshall, Gail O'Grady, David Rasche, Jamie Denton, Danny Nucci. A Universal Pictures release written by Leslie Dixon, directed by Carl Reiner. Rated PG-13, contains sexual situations, profanity. Running time: 105 minutes.

Bette Midler and Dennis Farina try to show how much fun adultery can be in That Old Feeling.

Trouble is, the audience probably won't have as much fun.

That Old Feeling plods where it should be buoyant, sinks where it should be bubbly.

Midler and Farina play a long-divorced couple whose 14-year-old antagonism quickly turns to lust when they come face to face at their daughter's wedding.

It's a wacky premise, but unfortunately Midler and Farina -- who never quite click as a romantic couple -- are off screen for long stretches. So That Old Feeling really begins to revolve around their daughter Molly's attempts to find them after they've run off together, and get them back to their respective spouses before the scandal ruins the electoral chances of her new husband, the congressional candidate.

To do this, Molly enlists the help of a scruffy photographer who has long plagued Midler's Lilly, an actress. Oh sure, the old enlist-the-aid-of-the-enemy trick.

Leslie Dixon's script is contrived and pretty obvious in its intent. Too bad, because she previously wrote Midler's hilarious Outrageous Fortune as well as the script for Mrs. Doubtfire. But once the set-up is hammered out, you know just where That Old Feeling is headed. Before long, there are nearly three adulterous affairs as spouses do-si-do in this changing partners comedy.

Carl Reiner's direction of what should be a wacky, door-slamming farce is labored. Too bad, because Reiner once worked magic on such beloved TV shows as Your Show of Shows and The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Reiner's biggest problem is the actors. There's little chemistry between Paula Marshall's whiny Molly (she's a regular on the Chicago Sons TV series) and Danny Nucci's photographer, nor between Marshall and anyone else for that matter.

Most of the actors, in fact, give the kind of earnest readings that drain the life out of Dixon's amusing tossaway lines. Too often they give the impression that they've just been handed the script and haven't yet come up with a way of convincing us that their characters are real people.

Then again, I'm not sure anyone could salvage the role of Midler's husband, Alan (David Rasche). He's supposed to be a nationally renowned marriage counselor, but bawls like a baby over the prospect of his own marriage collapsing and seeks comfort in three yapping toy poodles he carries everywhere.

Midler gamely plows through her role, trying to have fun with an underwritten character whose actions make little sense. One second she's screaming at her ex, the next she's rolling around the back seat of a car with him. You may wind up screaming, too, but not in a fit of laughter.