The idea of a love affair between two 54 year olds who are determined never to fall in love again certainly makes for an interesting and usable premise. Having them meet in a gay bar because the male half of the couple thinks he might be gay and the woman happens to be there also (who knows why), and he mistakes her for a transvestite, etc., is as phony and unpersuasive a plot device as I ever remember encountering in a film that wasn't made for 10-year-olds or for fans of horror films. If they'd met in some "normal" fashion and if the director/scriptwriter hadn't also pressed the wrong buttons by having her 18-year-old daughter walk in on them while he's under the covers examining her nether parts close up and by having her modeling porn shop sex tools when he brings her mother visiting and if, if, if.....this could have been a reasonably good movie. Jill Clayburgh is a handsome woman of a certain age, and while Jeffrey Tambor will never be mistaken for Brad Pitt, it's possible for women to fall in love with fat little bald guys too. As it is, "Never Again" is mildly -- very mildly -- entertaining, assuming you aren't offended by the most sexually explicit language I've ever encountered in a movie. But it's certainly no "Harry Meets Sally" for an older generation as it's been advertised. Most of the intended humor is far too strenuous and improbable to be seriously funny. So there's much more wrong than right about this movie. But Bill Duke is splendid as Tambor's lifelong friend and bass-playing jazz partner and Clayburgh and Tambor do reasonably good jobs when they aren't asked to do something utterly ridiculous. Someone ought to confiscate Eric Schaeffer's pen and director's chair, however.He's entirely responsible for butchering the premise.
Review of Never Again
