Kristy McNichol gives a good if uneven performance as a crippled flautist--working her way through a series of romantic losers here at home--who travels to a French ski-resort and gets a bright idea: she replaces her cumbersome leg-brace with a cast and finds guys wanting her sexually for the first time. Bumpy romantic comedy begins well, but is really two different pictures, with Kristy's musician going from shyly seductive girl to mercurial, exasperating kid. There are some savvy moments, but mostly in the quietly charming first hour. Once in France, where McNichol hooks up with incredibly patient photographer Michael Ontkean, the filmmakers get too silly, replacing the satiric wit with cheap, blurry sentiment and a pointless discotheque sequence that goes on...and on. **1/2 from ****
20 Reviews
Disabled girl wins on her own merit
francineallen-103423 March 2016
Warning: Spoilers
For a synopsis of the plot, read one of the many other reviews. The reason I loved this movie when I saw it (stuck on a tarmac in a stifling plane in Hawaii for two hours) is that I also have a lame leg, from polio, and had to wear a walking cast for an injury at one time (one ofmany injuries, actually). It was the only time I felt I could walk normally, since one of my legs is two inches shorter than the other, weak and partially paralyzed. I loved that when the heroine had an acceptable reason to limp - the ski injury with cast on the leg - she was an equal. I have often felt that in relationships it has been hard for men to judge me on my inner merit because I am lame. It is one thing to love a lame person, but another to commit a lifetime with her. Or him. I have been married and deeply in love for two decades, but there were a lot of years of difficulty prior to that when I took up with men I should not have, just to be in a relationship. When I saw this movie, I could SO relate to the character's having a chance to be seen as a normal person.
overly long first act
SnoopyStyle2 August 2020
In New York City, Susan Berlanger (Kristy McNichol) is a concert flutist with a lame leg. Gay investment banker and friend Frank Bantam (Tim Daly) had proposed a marriage of convenience and moving them to Texas. Her best friend Lisa Elliott is a dancer. Jack is her telephone answering service and wants a date despite never met her. Sam Carpenter asks for a date with Lisa but falls for Susan instead. Somehow, her bum leg always get in the way. While on an European tour, she convinces a doctor to put a leg cast on her and goes to a ski resort pretending to have a leg injury. Photographer Peter Nichols (Michael Ontkean) is taken with her convinced that she's hiding a secret.
This movie is split in two. For the first part, the movie introduces three romantic possibilities for Susan. That's plenty enough to last a whole rom-com movie. She has a best friend. The whole movie is set up but it's really only a set up to introduce the premise. The premise could have been introduced with fewer characters and a shorter time. In fact, Ontkean is introduced after over forty minutes and he's the romantic partner. That's halfway into the movie. It's too late and his meet cute is inferior to both Jack and Sam. There is a cheesy music montage and that's fun. I do like the second half. I just wish that it gets there quicker.
This movie is split in two. For the first part, the movie introduces three romantic possibilities for Susan. That's plenty enough to last a whole rom-com movie. She has a best friend. The whole movie is set up but it's really only a set up to introduce the premise. The premise could have been introduced with fewer characters and a shorter time. In fact, Ontkean is introduced after over forty minutes and he's the romantic partner. That's halfway into the movie. It's too late and his meet cute is inferior to both Jack and Sam. There is a cheesy music montage and that's fun. I do like the second half. I just wish that it gets there quicker.
I JUST LOVE THIS FILM THE WAY IT IS
bigpappa1--223 June 2000
OK, I have posted a review for this film in the past, but I just love this film sooooooooooo much. Kristy MacNichol is so terrific and so appealing in this film and the rest of the cast is well perfectly casted. This film really tugs at your heart strings. Like the scene where she is able to ski for the first time, talk about uplifting. And when her character experiences pain, you feel it to because one can't but help to get involved into her journey of self discovery. This is also very well directed with lots of pretty scenery and the music score is just perfect for this film. Every time I see this movie it just gets better every time. Go out and rent this film right away. It is a very underrated classic.
Not a great movie that I thoroughly enjoy watching!
reppn8183 April 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Spoil alert.
Very disappointing when Nicole goes back to her married lover.
The real romance should have been between Francois and Nicole. I wanted to see them together way more than Peter and Susan. Susan and Peter were a little boring snoozeville.
Very disappointing when Nicole goes back to her married lover.
The real romance should have been between Francois and Nicole. I wanted to see them together way more than Peter and Susan. Susan and Peter were a little boring snoozeville.
Cute but not always believable
michelle719 April 2024
I'll start with the positive: it takes place in the Alps, so the scenery is magnificent (especially the hot-air balloon scene). Kristy McNicol is just adorable in this movie. You can't help rooting for her. And the overall message is quite positive ( you have to accept yourself the way you are and other people will love you for it)
But...the first 45 minutes of the movie are a bit useless. She has 3 love interests who bring absolutely nothing to the rest of the movie. She's a concert flutist, but she could have had any job that would bring her to Europe. The script is pretty cheesy overall.
But it brought me back to the mid-80's, when I was a teenager...the hair, the colourful clothes, the synthesizers... nice little movie!
But...the first 45 minutes of the movie are a bit useless. She has 3 love interests who bring absolutely nothing to the rest of the movie. She's a concert flutist, but she could have had any job that would bring her to Europe. The script is pretty cheesy overall.
But it brought me back to the mid-80's, when I was a teenager...the hair, the colourful clothes, the synthesizers... nice little movie!
Absolutely awful
jewel0829 December 2010
If you need any proof why Kristy McNichol never made the jump from TV star to movie star, look no further than this laughably bad "romantic" romp. Kristy was apparently going through a crisis during the shooting of this film -- and it shows. But not every fault can be blamed on her infamous "chemical imbalance." Kristy just never had the chops for the big screen. Her love scenes are painfully awkward. She looks with more lustful longing at a female ballerina than she does with studly suitors Michael Onktean and Tim Daly. Her role calls for her to play a handicapped musician, but she can't even remember to limp in many of her scenes. It's hard to believe that she was once such a bright star. She's barely going through the motions here, and it ain't pretty.
just the way you are
mossgrymk8 February 2024
This movie is, both literally and figuratively, a lame chick flic. It is remembered today, if at all, for its star, Kristy McNichol, having some sort of a nervous breakdown during filming so that it took over a year for it, mercifully, to conclude. Can't say that I blame Ms. McNichol. I too would go to pieces if I was presented with Allan (Where are you when I need you, Jim Brooks?) Burns' screenplay with its reliance on polio double entendre jokes and scenes where the main character is worried that her future father in law's fly is opened or where a French doctor takes time out for patients who really need him to do needless cosmetic surgery on Ms. McNichols' leg so that she can hang at a ski resort without feeling self conscious. And we're supposed to regard him as delightfully French instead of smarmily unethical. Yes, It's that kind of film. Give it a C minus.
Fun, but slightly flawed, movie
dwr2466 July 2005
Given the title, I expected a little more in common with the Billy Joel song of the same name. But while the heroine at one points tells her soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend that he'll find someone to love him just the way he is, her own discovery of that fact is somewhat unclear.
Susan Berlanger (Kristi McNichol) is a pretty, talented flautist, who, unfortunately wears a leg brace. Because her disability is visible, Susan is always treated differently, to the point where she begins to feel that people don't see her, they just see her disability. This is also why her love life has been a disaster. She is all set to marry her gay friend, Frank (Tim Daly), in order to help him hide his sexuality to get ahead in business, but decides not to when she realizes that the marriage won't meet her - or his - sexual needs. After she and her best friend, Lisa (Kaki Hunter) experience a series of disastrous relationships, Susan gets booked on a European tour. While in France, Susan hits upon an idea to find out how people will react if they don't know she is disabled - hide the disability. So, she gets a doctor to put a cast on her bad leg, and heads off to a ski resort. Once there, she meets an assortment of colorful characters: Nicole (Catherine Salviat), a single woman having an affair with a married man who stands her up so that she and Susan have to share a room; Francois Rossignol (Andre Dussollier), a former skier who lost a leg; Peter Nichols (Michael Ontkean), a handsome professional photographer there to shoot a ski competition; and Bobbie (Alexandra Paul), Peter's insufferable girlfriend. As Susan's vacation progresses, she does all kinds of things she's never done before, including winning a ski race. Peter's growing attraction to Susan causes his relationship with Bobbie to break up. And while the feelings are mutual, Susan begins to feel uneasy that she is deceiving Peter, but can't figure out how to tell him about her disability. Will she, or will they part without Peter ever knowing?
The premise is intriguing, in that the only way Susan can find out how people will feel about her is by hiding her disability. And yet, once she does that, at some point, she will have to come clean about it. Unfortunately, her revelation is done in such an anticlimactic way, that the viewer is left unsure what, if anything, she has learned as a result of her stay at the ski resort. Also, the movie has a disjointed feel to it, leaving the viewer wondering what Susan's bad relationships in America had to do with her adventures in France. Fortunately, the film moves along at a good pace, the action is fun, and the characters are likable, so you don't care too much that it doesn't have the depth it could. But it did leave me wondering how much better it could have been had the writers decided to explore more of Susan's self discovery.
The acting, overall, was good. McNichol never fails to give a pleasant performance, and she makes Susan likable in spite of her shortcomings. Her injection of humor into Susan's situation is exceptionally well done. Ontkean makes a wonderful leading man, playing Peter as someone who definitely looks beneath the surface and who is far more interested in what he finds there. Salviat and Dussollier are delightful as people with distinctly European sensibilities, who completely confuse Susan. Hunter does a nice job with Lisa, giving us a woman who knows her shortcomings, and has learned to live with them. The only weak performance was Alexandra Paul as Bobbie, who was so one dimensional that it was painful. While Bobbie was indeed shallow and self absorbed, a good portrayal of her would have given the viewer some sympathy for her losing her man. Paul's performance makes you want to applaud as she stamps off after throwing her final tantrum. The rest of the supporting cast does a good job of keeping things light.
Visually, it's a lovely film, especially the ski resort, which has an air of leisure and celebration completely appropriate to the action taking place there.
Overall, this is a fun film, and a very enjoyable one, but it still leaves the nagging question of how much better it could have been had it paused to do a little more exploration of Susan's self discovery, and shown you that she was indeed lovable just the way she was.
Susan Berlanger (Kristi McNichol) is a pretty, talented flautist, who, unfortunately wears a leg brace. Because her disability is visible, Susan is always treated differently, to the point where she begins to feel that people don't see her, they just see her disability. This is also why her love life has been a disaster. She is all set to marry her gay friend, Frank (Tim Daly), in order to help him hide his sexuality to get ahead in business, but decides not to when she realizes that the marriage won't meet her - or his - sexual needs. After she and her best friend, Lisa (Kaki Hunter) experience a series of disastrous relationships, Susan gets booked on a European tour. While in France, Susan hits upon an idea to find out how people will react if they don't know she is disabled - hide the disability. So, she gets a doctor to put a cast on her bad leg, and heads off to a ski resort. Once there, she meets an assortment of colorful characters: Nicole (Catherine Salviat), a single woman having an affair with a married man who stands her up so that she and Susan have to share a room; Francois Rossignol (Andre Dussollier), a former skier who lost a leg; Peter Nichols (Michael Ontkean), a handsome professional photographer there to shoot a ski competition; and Bobbie (Alexandra Paul), Peter's insufferable girlfriend. As Susan's vacation progresses, she does all kinds of things she's never done before, including winning a ski race. Peter's growing attraction to Susan causes his relationship with Bobbie to break up. And while the feelings are mutual, Susan begins to feel uneasy that she is deceiving Peter, but can't figure out how to tell him about her disability. Will she, or will they part without Peter ever knowing?
The premise is intriguing, in that the only way Susan can find out how people will feel about her is by hiding her disability. And yet, once she does that, at some point, she will have to come clean about it. Unfortunately, her revelation is done in such an anticlimactic way, that the viewer is left unsure what, if anything, she has learned as a result of her stay at the ski resort. Also, the movie has a disjointed feel to it, leaving the viewer wondering what Susan's bad relationships in America had to do with her adventures in France. Fortunately, the film moves along at a good pace, the action is fun, and the characters are likable, so you don't care too much that it doesn't have the depth it could. But it did leave me wondering how much better it could have been had the writers decided to explore more of Susan's self discovery.
The acting, overall, was good. McNichol never fails to give a pleasant performance, and she makes Susan likable in spite of her shortcomings. Her injection of humor into Susan's situation is exceptionally well done. Ontkean makes a wonderful leading man, playing Peter as someone who definitely looks beneath the surface and who is far more interested in what he finds there. Salviat and Dussollier are delightful as people with distinctly European sensibilities, who completely confuse Susan. Hunter does a nice job with Lisa, giving us a woman who knows her shortcomings, and has learned to live with them. The only weak performance was Alexandra Paul as Bobbie, who was so one dimensional that it was painful. While Bobbie was indeed shallow and self absorbed, a good portrayal of her would have given the viewer some sympathy for her losing her man. Paul's performance makes you want to applaud as she stamps off after throwing her final tantrum. The rest of the supporting cast does a good job of keeping things light.
Visually, it's a lovely film, especially the ski resort, which has an air of leisure and celebration completely appropriate to the action taking place there.
Overall, this is a fun film, and a very enjoyable one, but it still leaves the nagging question of how much better it could have been had it paused to do a little more exploration of Susan's self discovery, and shown you that she was indeed lovable just the way she was.
I like this movie!!!!
rkuntz30 November 2000
This movie is about a flutist that has a lame leg. She wants to see if people would treat her differently if they didn't know she was handicapped. So she talks a French doctor into putting a cast on her leg. She does and decides to go into the Mountains to a ski Resort. She finds love, friendship and finds life. Great movie I like Kristy in this movie. The music keeps you into the movie. I still watch it every time I see it on. Something to watch when it is cold outside and want something to watch that makes you laugh. Romance and comedy mixed well. Enjoy!!!
Now on DVD widescreen remaster
qualityguyftl30 June 2010
I have always loved this movie. Give it a shot and don't rely on the snide reviews on here. This movie is not suppose to be Schindler's List. Now over 20 years later the movie is now available on DVD, I got mine from Moviesunlimited.com. It has been remastered and is in widescreen format. This movie accomplishes just what it is suppose to, a breezy romantic comedy with an original plot. Kristy is wonderful and Michel Ontkean fresh from his groundbreaking role in "Making Love" is not only HOT but a gentle caring man in this role. Another reviewer stated that they didn't like it when McNicole was more "kid like" in the later half of the movie. Well of course is she like a child, she has been in a leg brace (due to post polio infection) and she never had a normal childhood, so of course she is going to be somewhat childlike doing things she has never done before. If you are looking for a good rainy day movie then watch "Just the Way you are" it's a good flick that leaves you feeling happy for the characters and makes you also look at how you treat others and how others treat you, without making it a 2 1/2 hour bore fest of background story and intellectual crap.
A joyous comedy.
bigpappa1--217 May 2000
A crippled musican with a leg brace takes a trip to France with her leg in a cast to see what people will treat her like when they don't know she is handicapped. A very appealing film and Kristy MacNichol has never been so likeable. An underrated classic. One of my favorite films of all time. Enjoy 9 out of 10.
I loved this movie...
vkenn20007 March 2008
...maybe in part because I'm a romantic at heart and maybe in part because I loved the way Ms. McNichol played her character, in spite of the controversy over her mental health. She was splendid! It is the light in which I will always remember her. There were a couple of script continuity issues, but other than that it was a perfect "chick flick," (and I loved the white coat, too! Where can I find one for myself?). I'd like to know when the filming was "interrupted" with Ms. McNichols leave of absence due to mental stress; the editors did a great job interfacing the one year time gap that is stated to have taken place during this time. Thanks, Christy, for sharing your talent in so many ways.
Delightful, enchanting, and hopeful!
arlenowitz27 December 2006
Great one-liners in this timeless romantic comedy of a girl destined to wear a metal brace her entire life, which has caused her to feel "different" from other girls. But she comes to have an ingenious idea to change her destiny and possibly, just possibly find romance and maybe even love. For the first time in her life she experiences life in it's splendor, ups, downs, fears that she faces, but all in all, experiences things she never thought were possible. This film always puts a smile on my face. I've searched and searched for it on DVD, but no luck yet. Hopefully, it will be made or has already been made in DVD format. I highly recommend it.
Forgettable 80s fluff.
fedor88 January 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Watchable little semi-soaper, but hardly captivating. Still, two or three funny moments. What amazes me is how slippery and morally highly questionable McNicol is. She plays an invalid (a leg problem), yet she not only isn't the "ugly duckling" whom men shun, but she is even a man-eater - and we are supposed to feel for her! Oh, poor little McNicol, with her leg problem... Poor little McNicol??! She is constantly getting passes from men, and even dumps them without so much as blinking! At one occasion she even has a premeditated one-night affair with a blond stud, and then she tells her newly-found French girlfriend quite non-chalantly that it took him time to get an erection! Makes us viewers wonder why she is so leg-conscious if every guy wants to hump her. Well, almost every guy; the only guy who really shunned her after seeing her leg wrapped up in metal is the guy working on the telephone. But otherwise she seems to be doing just fine with men! No shyness, no lack of success with men, and she throws them away like toys; the way she dumped Carradine was ridiculous. Poor little invalid girl?? I don't think so. And yet we are meant to believe that this woman has a major confidence problem; hence the scene in which she prepares to start playing the flute for a solo concert and somehow manages to throw the notes on the ground out of nervousness. Nervousness?? The rest of the movie shows little or nothing that would suggest that she has confidence problems, so this flute scene is absurd and doesn't fit into the bigger picture. I was also surprised how quickly and eagerly McNicol makes friends with a French woman who is screwing a married guy. On the surface the movie would appear to be a "sentimental story of one crippled woman's struggle for acceptance" (or something like that) but it's nothing like that at all; the writer clearly shifts between this type of movie and a "screw anything that moves - it's the 80s" kind of movie - very confusing.
As far as her leg: it's not like she has a big, fat purple balloon growing on her calf muscle. She "only" has a normal-looking metal prosthetic attached to the lower part of her leg, so I really don't understand why the makers of the film try to make it seem as if she is a female Quasimodo or something, at the beginning of the film. It's not like she has a twin head growing out of her neck! Though McNicol is hardly a major catch. Kind of cutish but nothing special, quite average.
But what the hell is Carradine doing playing some kind of a (relatively) smooth guy flirting with McNicol and her pal?! This guy was in "Revenge of the Nerds"! But I guess it's the same thing with the Carradines in the movies as it is with the Kennedys in politics: no matter how ugly, unable, or dumb, all the doors are open for a career in movies and politics, respectively.
Down with nepotism.
If you want to read bogus biographies about the Carradines, and other Hollywood nepotists and morons, contact me by e-mail.
As far as her leg: it's not like she has a big, fat purple balloon growing on her calf muscle. She "only" has a normal-looking metal prosthetic attached to the lower part of her leg, so I really don't understand why the makers of the film try to make it seem as if she is a female Quasimodo or something, at the beginning of the film. It's not like she has a twin head growing out of her neck! Though McNicol is hardly a major catch. Kind of cutish but nothing special, quite average.
But what the hell is Carradine doing playing some kind of a (relatively) smooth guy flirting with McNicol and her pal?! This guy was in "Revenge of the Nerds"! But I guess it's the same thing with the Carradines in the movies as it is with the Kennedys in politics: no matter how ugly, unable, or dumb, all the doors are open for a career in movies and politics, respectively.
Down with nepotism.
If you want to read bogus biographies about the Carradines, and other Hollywood nepotists and morons, contact me by e-mail.
Poignant and meaningful
robert375024 April 2021
Kristy at her sweetest
RedCupCoffee21 January 2023
I truly don't know why people hate this movie so much. It's a rom-com from the 80's for Pete's sake, it's supposed to be fun, light and sugar sweet and this movie delightfully ticks all those boxes. I never knew it at the time but Kristy melted my heart, she had the sweet looks of a fem girl with the razor sharp charm of someone older and intuitive. She is a delightful actress who emotes in a lovely way wi5h her soft brown eyes and calm demeanor. I loved every bit of it and every time she is on screen her charm shines right thru. This is a fun movie to watch as you drink a hot cup of tea on a rainy day.
Enjoyed this movie
agency7 May 2005
I enjoyed the movie's theme, and in particular the music selections in this production. In-fact, I wish I could find a VHS copy of the movie. Christie played an excellent role. The production settings were interesting and well suited to the overall theme of the movie. There should be more movies of this excellent format. Christie's part reflected the emotion and human failings that all people tend to encounter at one time or another during their lifetime. The fact that most of the other actors were relatively unknowns (for the most part), I found this helped to focus on the main theme of the movie and the lead role (Christie).
Amputee discovers true love and self esteem
Jared X17 April 2000
Even Kristy McNichol can't save this movie. She plays a world-famous concert flautist with two flaws: her physical disability, which appears to be a missing lower limb of her right leg, and her emotional disability, which is her self-consciousness about her missing limb. Aside from the utter implausibility of the plot, the picture is grossly overstuffed with television sitcom-esque snow bunny images of a european ski resort. Updated, it might make a great Farrelly brothers comedy. But as is, I would mark it "return to sender."
Romantic comedy with a social message
lor_14 February 2023
My review was written in November 1984 after a screening on Manhattan's UES.
"Just the Way You Are' is a glossy MGM romantic comedy featuring a fine cast, witty dialog and ggs by scripter Allan Burns but precious little in the way of a payoff to attract the paying customer. It's a shame, since pic is diverting in parts and sports a social conscience to boot.
Troubled production history (recalling an earlier MGM flop, "Brainstorm") had the film, titled "I Won't Dance", shut down midway through production (commencing Nov. 1, 1982 due to a "chemical imbalance" experienced by lead Kristy McNichol. Pic finally restarted in December 1983.
McNichol topline as Susan Berlange, a flautist with a ballet company orchestra in an unidentified U. S. city (actually Toronto-lensed) who is crippled, wearing a leg brace and highly self-conscious about her condition. She has a romantic fling with Sam (Robert Carradine, quite affecting in a brief, key role) who at first makes a play for her ballerina pal Lisa (Kaki Hunter, making the best with a part that calls for too many "flat chest" lines). Her gammy leg creates a problem (love vs. Pity) and Susan is glad to go on a European concert tour (30 minutes into the film), fleeing both Sam and her fiance, a gayboy stock broker (Timothy Daly), in a proposed marriage of convenience.
In France, she hits upon the clever notion of putting a cast on her leg to pose as a skiing casualty, rightly figuring that for once she will be accepted as normal, at a ski resort. There she falls in love with a handsome photographer Peter (Michael Ontkean) but is reminded constantly of her deception by the presence of a one-legged (car accident) ski magnate Francois (Andre Dussolier) who is romancing her French roommate Nicole (Catherine Savia). Contrived happy ending is an unconvincing letdown.
Film is wildly uneven, best in the early North American segment which includes several hilarious scenes making fun of the way society treats the handicapped (especially a pertinent one when McNichol and Hunter try waiting in line at a movie theater). Last hour in France is strong in travelog elements but weak on comedy or pathos.
Picture does serve to adequately move young star McNichol into screen adulthood, often resembling the 1969 Patty Duke classic "Me, Natalie" in both theme and format. Supporting cast is excellent, though male lead Ontkean emerges colorless after an array of tantalizing partnere for McNichol's affections precede him to the batter's box. Director Edouard Molinaro (best known for helming "La Cage aux Folles" and its sequel) maximizes the comic potential but has trouble pulling it all together. Tech credits are solid.
"Just the Way You Are' is a glossy MGM romantic comedy featuring a fine cast, witty dialog and ggs by scripter Allan Burns but precious little in the way of a payoff to attract the paying customer. It's a shame, since pic is diverting in parts and sports a social conscience to boot.
Troubled production history (recalling an earlier MGM flop, "Brainstorm") had the film, titled "I Won't Dance", shut down midway through production (commencing Nov. 1, 1982 due to a "chemical imbalance" experienced by lead Kristy McNichol. Pic finally restarted in December 1983.
McNichol topline as Susan Berlange, a flautist with a ballet company orchestra in an unidentified U. S. city (actually Toronto-lensed) who is crippled, wearing a leg brace and highly self-conscious about her condition. She has a romantic fling with Sam (Robert Carradine, quite affecting in a brief, key role) who at first makes a play for her ballerina pal Lisa (Kaki Hunter, making the best with a part that calls for too many "flat chest" lines). Her gammy leg creates a problem (love vs. Pity) and Susan is glad to go on a European concert tour (30 minutes into the film), fleeing both Sam and her fiance, a gayboy stock broker (Timothy Daly), in a proposed marriage of convenience.
In France, she hits upon the clever notion of putting a cast on her leg to pose as a skiing casualty, rightly figuring that for once she will be accepted as normal, at a ski resort. There she falls in love with a handsome photographer Peter (Michael Ontkean) but is reminded constantly of her deception by the presence of a one-legged (car accident) ski magnate Francois (Andre Dussolier) who is romancing her French roommate Nicole (Catherine Savia). Contrived happy ending is an unconvincing letdown.
Film is wildly uneven, best in the early North American segment which includes several hilarious scenes making fun of the way society treats the handicapped (especially a pertinent one when McNichol and Hunter try waiting in line at a movie theater). Last hour in France is strong in travelog elements but weak on comedy or pathos.
Picture does serve to adequately move young star McNichol into screen adulthood, often resembling the 1969 Patty Duke classic "Me, Natalie" in both theme and format. Supporting cast is excellent, though male lead Ontkean emerges colorless after an array of tantalizing partnere for McNichol's affections precede him to the batter's box. Director Edouard Molinaro (best known for helming "La Cage aux Folles" and its sequel) maximizes the comic potential but has trouble pulling it all together. Tech credits are solid.
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