I saw this as a half of a double feature on a double date in the 1970s. Three of the four of us preferred the other film ("Marriage of a Young Stockbroker"?), but I liked this one and went back to see it again. It IS a funny film, but also a believable love story with (understandably) good chemistry between the two leads. And no other reviewer has mentioned that Bologna was pretty hot back in the day if you like those Big types. It is borderline painful to watch Renee Taylor's various "acts" as she skates close to some sort of showbiz fame--sort of a proto-Bridget Jones--but you have to admire the candor of these two writers in filming this autobiographical material, warts and all.
18 Reviews
Made for Each Other-Biographical? **1/2
edwagreen11 October 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Renee Taylor and Joe, I'm full of bologna, star in this film which they both wrote.
What's all the excitement here? Basically, this is the story of 2 born-losers from totally dysfunctional families.
They meet at a group therapy session. There is definite chemistry between them but all hell breaks loose when they go to his house and meet his Italian family.
There is really superb acting here by Olympia Dukakis and Paul Sorvino, as Joe's parents. Outbursts at their table are quite common, but after all, it all seems to boil down to the differences in religion as the two never let go of the fact that Miss Taylor is Jewish.
The scene at the Jewish funeral for Taylor's father was absolutely obnoxious.
The therapy session seasons are comical, but if this is a biography, the two should not have let their dirty laundry out.
What's all the excitement here? Basically, this is the story of 2 born-losers from totally dysfunctional families.
They meet at a group therapy session. There is definite chemistry between them but all hell breaks loose when they go to his house and meet his Italian family.
There is really superb acting here by Olympia Dukakis and Paul Sorvino, as Joe's parents. Outbursts at their table are quite common, but after all, it all seems to boil down to the differences in religion as the two never let go of the fact that Miss Taylor is Jewish.
The scene at the Jewish funeral for Taylor's father was absolutely obnoxious.
The therapy session seasons are comical, but if this is a biography, the two should not have let their dirty laundry out.
Renee Taylor Is Superb
drednm12 June 2016
Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna wrote and star in this story of two hopelessly lost souls who find one another. Each is the product of a dysfunctional home and each has struggled to find an anchor in this world. Their adult years are filled with failure and heartache and endless searching ... until they find each other.
This comedy/drama is a showcase for Renee Taylor who mines much of her own life for the character of Panda Gold, a hilariously untalented woman yearning to become a star and with a stage mother (Helen Verbit) to end all stage mothers. Bologna stars as Giggy Panimba, the coddled mama's boy who also fails at everything he tries ... including entering a seminary ... with his mama (Olympia Dukakis) right behind him.
They meet in a group therapy session and form an on-and-off alliance against the world that may or may not lead to a happy ending.
Taylor is funny and heartbreaking as she haplessly veers from job to job, always sure stardom and happiness await her. Her night club act in which she asks the coy question, "who am I now"? while doing a terrible impersonation of Rita Hayworth singing "Fire Down Below" is so bad it's funny. Bologna is appalled and tells her the act is terrible, but nothing penetrates, and she persists in thinking herself supremely talented. Audiences are just too dumb to get her act.
Co-stars include Paul Sorvino and Louis Zorich as the fathers, Peggy Pope, Ron Carey, Despo, and Norman Shelley as group members. Look fast for Adam Arkin, Candy Azzara, Eddie Barth, and Nancy Andrews.
In real life, the couple won an Oscar nomination and Writer's Guild nomination for the film version of their play "Lovers and Other Strangers" and earned another Writer's Guild nomination for this film.
Wonderful film.
This comedy/drama is a showcase for Renee Taylor who mines much of her own life for the character of Panda Gold, a hilariously untalented woman yearning to become a star and with a stage mother (Helen Verbit) to end all stage mothers. Bologna stars as Giggy Panimba, the coddled mama's boy who also fails at everything he tries ... including entering a seminary ... with his mama (Olympia Dukakis) right behind him.
They meet in a group therapy session and form an on-and-off alliance against the world that may or may not lead to a happy ending.
Taylor is funny and heartbreaking as she haplessly veers from job to job, always sure stardom and happiness await her. Her night club act in which she asks the coy question, "who am I now"? while doing a terrible impersonation of Rita Hayworth singing "Fire Down Below" is so bad it's funny. Bologna is appalled and tells her the act is terrible, but nothing penetrates, and she persists in thinking herself supremely talented. Audiences are just too dumb to get her act.
Co-stars include Paul Sorvino and Louis Zorich as the fathers, Peggy Pope, Ron Carey, Despo, and Norman Shelley as group members. Look fast for Adam Arkin, Candy Azzara, Eddie Barth, and Nancy Andrews.
In real life, the couple won an Oscar nomination and Writer's Guild nomination for the film version of their play "Lovers and Other Strangers" and earned another Writer's Guild nomination for this film.
Wonderful film.
i need the DVD!!!
appetites6 May 2007
Really nice to read all of the comments and know that the film was appreciated. I first saw the film in NYC as a sneak preview before 2001 Space Odyssey. My companion and I agreed that there was no reason to stay after Made For Each Other. I searched for that film in every TV schedule for more than ten years...it must have been practically every day, because when I did find it(and made my copy!)i never saw it again. Always the other movie of the same name with James Stewart. I found these comments because I was trying to find a copy of the DVD online, so if anyone hears of of how to find it...share!! the copy of my copy is getting old! the french would love this movie even now.
Very Disappointed
tankhimo16 November 2015
This is a really bad movie. My wife and I recently saw Renée Taylor live in Queens Theatre, and wanted to watch one of her early movies. "Made For Each Other" looked like a good candidate, so I went and ordered a DVD on Amazon. We were very disappointed. Directing was simply awful, and it was very boring and even depressing for a comedy. After struggling through the first half hour, we fast-forwarded the rest of the movie with only one stop - the cabaret number (the extra star in my rating), which we already saw on YouTube in the same quality free of charge. Speaking of quality: at $20 list price, Twentieth Century Fox could have bothered to clean up video and sound somewhat or at least to make subtitles.
Why no video?
busypencil13 June 2000
Why isn't there a video of this hilarious film, which is seldom shown on television. One of many priceless snatches of dialogue -- PANDORA (ecstatic) Mother, last night I had my first orgasm. MOTHER: Orgasm? In my day, we didn't have them.
A Pitaful Movie
fredross-1881216 February 2019
I watch movies every day. All kinds All times. I saw where this was going to be on and I recorded it 2 days ago. Watched it today. Absolutely senseless. Actors, who are usually great are boring and script is predictable. Very hard to keep interested in it. Not sure what kind of audience this film was made for but it sure wasn't folks who like comedy. Wasn't funny. The plot wasn't a plot. I'd never waste time watching it again and have wondered why I watched it this time.
Sublime comedy of two neurotics finding their match.
davidperry18 November 2004
I've loved this movie ever since I saw it when it came out. I have a tape, which is deteriorating, copied off Encore. In general, the film translates well to tape--the biggest loss are car scenes where two-shots become alternating one-shots, and the squabble outside the diner, a three shot in the theater (inscrutable dude leaning against store shutters), now mostly a two-shot, which really removes a lot of the dry wit. I'm writing this because I see that the DVD has been released on September 28 for $4.95, but I haven't found any information on who released it, where I can get it, or anything else. Does someone out there know the answer? I'd like to buy a replacement for my old tape and copies for my friends. Letterbox would be great! But I won't hold my breath.
A virtual gem
dongould4 July 2006
Joe Bologna and Renee Taylor hit a homer with this one. Unfortunately, the critics must have been busy at the concession stands when they rounded the bases. Where is the DVD? You might not find a better acted script or one that seems so believable despite its over-the-top characters. Giggy and Pandora are unforgettable as evidenced by the resonance the film left with me even after these 35 years since its release, the first and last time I saw it. The scene in which Pandora meets Giggy's parents and relatives at dinner is a classic. Director Robert Bean allowed the top notch cast to relate as they would in a real life situation, and it worked wonderfully. Joe Bologna and Renee Taylor are under-appreciated national treasures!
The perfect comedy
albertsanders31 December 2006
I haven't seen this film since it came out in 1971; my mouth dropped open. One of your reviewers said it is a virtual gem but that's wrong--nothing virtual about it, it's a REAL gem! Maybe the funniest, most intelligent, poignant, true-to-life film I've ever seen. Just a couple of scenes...
As the film opens, Joseph Bologna is graduating from Brooklyn College (I think) and is standing, in gown and mortarboard, with his two proud, obviously much less educated Italian-American parents. Being a proud, prickly adolescent, he idiotically uses this joyous landmark family occasion to start a nasty argument in which he rants against his baffled parents, warning them of what is going to happen to people like them when people like him righteously rise up to end the wrongs they have been enduring. The topper is that the viewer notices he is wearing, under his gown, a necklace of shark's teeth, a la Black Panther terrorists (remember them?).
Then we meet his girlfriend, Renee Taylor (in real life, co-writer and long-time wife). She is this neurotic, psychoanalytically-oriented, minimally talented, would-be actress. Also a pushy Jewish Brooklyn girl who is Bologna's greatest booster--and would-be wife. She has developed a high-concept (she thinks) act we see her perform in a smoky, low-ceiling Brooklyn dump of a night club. The act is a series of impersonations. Her gimmick is that at the beginning of each, she coyly asks the audience "Who am I?" After each impersonation she asks the audience who the subject was. No one knows the right answer. But, unaware of the magnitude of the disaster, she bravely soldiers on. It is riotously funny yet as painful as Chaplin's dinner in "The Gold Rush" in which, as the evening wears on, it becomes clear that his lovely female guests won't show up.
Does anyone know how to buy a DVD of this extraordinary film by two geniuses?
As the film opens, Joseph Bologna is graduating from Brooklyn College (I think) and is standing, in gown and mortarboard, with his two proud, obviously much less educated Italian-American parents. Being a proud, prickly adolescent, he idiotically uses this joyous landmark family occasion to start a nasty argument in which he rants against his baffled parents, warning them of what is going to happen to people like them when people like him righteously rise up to end the wrongs they have been enduring. The topper is that the viewer notices he is wearing, under his gown, a necklace of shark's teeth, a la Black Panther terrorists (remember them?).
Then we meet his girlfriend, Renee Taylor (in real life, co-writer and long-time wife). She is this neurotic, psychoanalytically-oriented, minimally talented, would-be actress. Also a pushy Jewish Brooklyn girl who is Bologna's greatest booster--and would-be wife. She has developed a high-concept (she thinks) act we see her perform in a smoky, low-ceiling Brooklyn dump of a night club. The act is a series of impersonations. Her gimmick is that at the beginning of each, she coyly asks the audience "Who am I?" After each impersonation she asks the audience who the subject was. No one knows the right answer. But, unaware of the magnitude of the disaster, she bravely soldiers on. It is riotously funny yet as painful as Chaplin's dinner in "The Gold Rush" in which, as the evening wears on, it becomes clear that his lovely female guests won't show up.
Does anyone know how to buy a DVD of this extraordinary film by two geniuses?
One of the funniest films ever made.
GBIRD17 June 2001
I saw this film once when it can out in 1971 and it has been in the back of my mind all these years. A super comedy that is all the more funny because it deals with real people like you and I. No fancy settings or beautiful people, two "misfits" careen through life tied together by the bonds of love, surviving all that the world can dish out. A real jewel of a film, wish it were on VHS.
Should be the real "classic" of the same name
gladee1 October 2001
I first saw this movie on late night TV and was captured by the really funny lines and characters...all of them. This film probably appeals to a more mature adult who can recall the ethnic differences of our friends and lovers that made life both difficult and, in retrospect, humorous at the same time.
I asked Joe Bologna after a recent stage performance why this film was not on video and his response was, "You'll have to ask 20th Century F0X."
It's unfortunate for those of us who think this film should be the real "classic" shown yearly. It is an underappreciated gem.
I asked Joe Bologna after a recent stage performance why this film was not on video and his response was, "You'll have to ask 20th Century F0X."
It's unfortunate for those of us who think this film should be the real "classic" shown yearly. It is an underappreciated gem.
Comedy Sleeper
dougdoepke30 January 2011
Can two therapy session flunk-outs (Taylor&Bologna) at last find happiness, maybe with each other?
Hilarious original. I laughed from beginning to end. It may be New York centered, but the humor has broad everyday appeal. Take that family dinner at Giggy's (Bologna) parents, a feast from heck. Catch the guys at the table. Think they're going to miss a bite with all the hysterical women yelling and crying around them. Heck no. They just keep chomping away like all the bickering and hubbub is an everyday event, which it probably is.
What a beautifully observed narrative. Note how often the camera focuses on reactions to the speaker instead of the speaker herself. Some of those expressions are priceless, especially during that wacky therapy session that ends up in a group dog-pile. Or catch Panda's (Taylor) cheesy nightclub act, where the humiliated Giggie wishes he could disappear but doesn't know where the magic might come from. The movie's really a series of these hilarious set-ups, as the two balky lovebirds try to figure out who they are.
But no wonder they have an identity problem. In hilarious flashback, we learn how the two hapless kids are bombarded by humorously unfulfilled parents. As a result, Panda chases fame with the world's worst show-biz act, while a confused Giggie goes from the priesthood to Black Power to the Marines and into therapy.
The movie's also poignant at times and in a non-sappy way. Since each of the lovebirds figures the other is just temporary, they're constantly demeaning the other in thoughtless ways. Of course, it's usually done in humorous fashion, as when Panda dumps the naked Giggie onto her bedroom floor and into the clutches of her addled mother, while she rushes off to her existential nightclub act. Actually, they keep bumping off one another like a couple of careening billiard balls.
I expect Taylor and Bologna worked their own relationship into the material. But whatever the source, the movie's expertly done, with a comedic flavor unlike any I've seen. In fact, the 100-minutes holds up surprisingly well, even after four decades, probably because it's so richly human as some might say, with just the right touch throughout. Anyway, in my little book, the movie's a genuine sleeper from start to finish.
Hilarious original. I laughed from beginning to end. It may be New York centered, but the humor has broad everyday appeal. Take that family dinner at Giggy's (Bologna) parents, a feast from heck. Catch the guys at the table. Think they're going to miss a bite with all the hysterical women yelling and crying around them. Heck no. They just keep chomping away like all the bickering and hubbub is an everyday event, which it probably is.
What a beautifully observed narrative. Note how often the camera focuses on reactions to the speaker instead of the speaker herself. Some of those expressions are priceless, especially during that wacky therapy session that ends up in a group dog-pile. Or catch Panda's (Taylor) cheesy nightclub act, where the humiliated Giggie wishes he could disappear but doesn't know where the magic might come from. The movie's really a series of these hilarious set-ups, as the two balky lovebirds try to figure out who they are.
But no wonder they have an identity problem. In hilarious flashback, we learn how the two hapless kids are bombarded by humorously unfulfilled parents. As a result, Panda chases fame with the world's worst show-biz act, while a confused Giggie goes from the priesthood to Black Power to the Marines and into therapy.
The movie's also poignant at times and in a non-sappy way. Since each of the lovebirds figures the other is just temporary, they're constantly demeaning the other in thoughtless ways. Of course, it's usually done in humorous fashion, as when Panda dumps the naked Giggie onto her bedroom floor and into the clutches of her addled mother, while she rushes off to her existential nightclub act. Actually, they keep bumping off one another like a couple of careening billiard balls.
I expect Taylor and Bologna worked their own relationship into the material. But whatever the source, the movie's expertly done, with a comedic flavor unlike any I've seen. In fact, the 100-minutes holds up surprisingly well, even after four decades, probably because it's so richly human as some might say, with just the right touch throughout. Anyway, in my little book, the movie's a genuine sleeper from start to finish.
Why Isn't This Classic Out On DVD?
janice1433 February 2009
In the early hours of this morning, I couldn't sleep so I surfed the several HBO channels and there it was. One of my favorite movies. There was Pandora in all of her nutty glory. The scene in the Italian home where they were eating just made me nuts! Okay, Olympia Dukakis and Paul Sorvino were miscast, they were obviously as old as the two stars. But funny and adorable! The scene under the Brooklyn Bridge where they finally admitted, in all of their angst, that they loved each other. An autobiographical movie, obviously.
With regards to Renee Taylor, I have a copy of a book that she wrote several years ago "My Life On A Diet." The writing is just as wonderful as the writer, just a wonderful piece of comedy, just like her.
I would just like an explanation as to why this movie isn't available to the millions of fans of these wonderful people.
With regards to Renee Taylor, I have a copy of a book that she wrote several years ago "My Life On A Diet." The writing is just as wonderful as the writer, just a wonderful piece of comedy, just like her.
I would just like an explanation as to why this movie isn't available to the millions of fans of these wonderful people.
The Cassavetes movie he wishes he made about the early 70's.
mark.waltz1 July 2022
Warning: Spoilers
The writing team of Taylor and Bologna became the acting team of Taylor and Bologna, that being Renee "Sylvia Fine" and real life husband Joe. They are hysterically funny living out the lives of their characters (Pandora and Giggy), greatly made who they are thanks to the love (or neuroses) of their parents. Famous actors of the future are cast as his parents (one an Oscar winner!), and you'll recognize a few familiar faces among the ensemble including the therapy session that Taylor and Bologna meet in.
She's neurotic and desperate, and he's commitment shy and admittedly not quite a gentleman. She's also a very untalented cabaret entertainer who thinks she's a lot better than she is, like an early 70's New York City version of Sally Bowles. Her mother, Helen Verbit, obviously loves her daughter very much, but she's not exactly the most couth woman, and steals every moment that she's in, especially with her obsession with astrology.
Her father Louis Zorich couldn't express love for his wife or daughter if they saved his life, and interestingly enough was married in real life to Bologna's on screen mom, Olympia Dukakis. This is definitely her biggest screen part up until "Moonstruck". Paul Sorvino, as Bologna's pop, is epitome of Italian American masculinity and very funny. But the film is about Taylor and Bologna who played two real losers in life, and they really made me fall in love with them in their historically funny realistic performances.
She's neurotic and desperate, and he's commitment shy and admittedly not quite a gentleman. She's also a very untalented cabaret entertainer who thinks she's a lot better than she is, like an early 70's New York City version of Sally Bowles. Her mother, Helen Verbit, obviously loves her daughter very much, but she's not exactly the most couth woman, and steals every moment that she's in, especially with her obsession with astrology.
Her father Louis Zorich couldn't express love for his wife or daughter if they saved his life, and interestingly enough was married in real life to Bologna's on screen mom, Olympia Dukakis. This is definitely her biggest screen part up until "Moonstruck". Paul Sorvino, as Bologna's pop, is epitome of Italian American masculinity and very funny. But the film is about Taylor and Bologna who played two real losers in life, and they really made me fall in love with them in their historically funny realistic performances.
Bring on the video!
tonygaas21 September 2000
Great comedy is rarer than the unicorn. Why keep this funniest of funny films from us? How about the initial scene with the encounter group and the hyper-anxiety frazzled to the bone woman complaining about the toilet that has leaked for years on end and has driven her far beyond mad. To which another male group participant meekly offers, "Did you try jiggling the handle?"
Biting satire in heartfelt love story
Ron in LA24 August 2005
Warning: Spoilers
Quirky, comic love story starring Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor as neurotic misfits who meet at a group therapy encounter session and reluctantly fall in love. Over-the-top satire is used to needle the touchy-feely psychotherapy process, as well as the surrealistic dysfunctional families that created the intensely flawed central characters.
Through angry encounters, the two lovers begin vomiting out uncomfortable truths, and then settle into a warm zone of mutual acceptance and intimacy. Near the end, Bologna blurts out that 'I love you, but I don't want to love you. I want to love someone prettier than you and smarter than you. But that person may never come along so I have to settle for you.' The real plot resolution does not come until the film's final frozen frame, when you see the two look at each other with an amused, knowing smile. The real happy ending is when you find out that Bologna and Taylor were married for six years at the time they both wrote and starred in the film, and that as of 2005 they have still been married for 40 years.
Happy anniversary, congratulations, and thanks for a great film.
Through angry encounters, the two lovers begin vomiting out uncomfortable truths, and then settle into a warm zone of mutual acceptance and intimacy. Near the end, Bologna blurts out that 'I love you, but I don't want to love you. I want to love someone prettier than you and smarter than you. But that person may never come along so I have to settle for you.' The real plot resolution does not come until the film's final frozen frame, when you see the two look at each other with an amused, knowing smile. The real happy ending is when you find out that Bologna and Taylor were married for six years at the time they both wrote and starred in the film, and that as of 2005 they have still been married for 40 years.
Happy anniversary, congratulations, and thanks for a great film.
A poignant love affair that proves that we marry our parents
IRVIN814 September 2001
Saw this film for the first time tonight, on Turner Movie Classics.
Having missed the first few minutes, and altogether ignorant of the film, I didn't know that it was 30 years old. But the principal's bright orange, full-length coat of an unidentified material, brought on a rush of uncertainty. She is no beauty, this woman - yet she reminds me of (somebody) Derisher, of "Nanny", only rubber-faced and unpretty.
There's a great deal in common and feel with Neil Simmon's plays - the pain and torment of love among the unloveable, e.g., the girl friend kicks her boy friend in the groin and asks, "How much do you love me now?").
The parental years of the principals are identical to "Torchlight Trilogy" - grotesque and self-parody. The principal's vulnerability is totally believable and rather marvelous.
Thirty years on, there's a lot of elemental clinical psychology
to "Made for Each Other". And one wants to keep that in mind.
The Neil Simmon-like crying scene at the end was highly effective and moving until a moment before the clench, when one realized that one was a voyeur to a dreadful, cathartic and eventually successful, if not somewhat mangled, love match.
I agree that this is "Like real life" but it's also Felinni-esque and somewhat grotesque. Probably the most moving scene for me was the New Year's Eve dinner scene when the mother gets hysterical, and her son leaves the room to tell her to friggin' SHUT UP! Killing. --And yet highly poignant with the poor Jewish guest sitting there getting slayed.
I didn't dislike the movie, and did laugh out loud at times. It was utterly professional at all times, never manipulative - but there is a sense of passe to it that goes beyond the orange lip stick and tomato-red bola. En fin, glad that I saw it.
Having missed the first few minutes, and altogether ignorant of the film, I didn't know that it was 30 years old. But the principal's bright orange, full-length coat of an unidentified material, brought on a rush of uncertainty. She is no beauty, this woman - yet she reminds me of (somebody) Derisher, of "Nanny", only rubber-faced and unpretty.
There's a great deal in common and feel with Neil Simmon's plays - the pain and torment of love among the unloveable, e.g., the girl friend kicks her boy friend in the groin and asks, "How much do you love me now?").
The parental years of the principals are identical to "Torchlight Trilogy" - grotesque and self-parody. The principal's vulnerability is totally believable and rather marvelous.
Thirty years on, there's a lot of elemental clinical psychology
to "Made for Each Other". And one wants to keep that in mind.
The Neil Simmon-like crying scene at the end was highly effective and moving until a moment before the clench, when one realized that one was a voyeur to a dreadful, cathartic and eventually successful, if not somewhat mangled, love match.
I agree that this is "Like real life" but it's also Felinni-esque and somewhat grotesque. Probably the most moving scene for me was the New Year's Eve dinner scene when the mother gets hysterical, and her son leaves the room to tell her to friggin' SHUT UP! Killing. --And yet highly poignant with the poor Jewish guest sitting there getting slayed.
I didn't dislike the movie, and did laugh out loud at times. It was utterly professional at all times, never manipulative - but there is a sense of passe to it that goes beyond the orange lip stick and tomato-red bola. En fin, glad that I saw it.
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