Used People (1992) User Reviews

For those who like a slice of life film that is off the beaten path

[theladydragonfly · 7/10 · 19 April 2006]

Admittedly, I LOVE films about relationships. Perhaps this is because I am a therapist.

This film is not only about finding love, but also about waking up to love that is already there. The characters grow and change in this film and if it seems uneven, this may be why. When the character of Pearl tells us early on that she never did anything she wanted in life, you doubt her ability to break away from her old life, but break away she does, carrying her mother, daughters and grandchildren with her.

This film has a happy ending, but it is not all neatly tucked away in pretty packages. If you like films that say something, try this one on for size. Films of similar flavor are "Wrestling Ernest Hemingway" "Harold and Maude" and "Moonstruck" .

Will make you laugh and cry

[gcd70 · 6/10 · 24 November 2007]

This story about real people falls right into the category of "Moonstruck" and "Once Around". Todd Graff's story and subsequent screenplay deals with the ups and downs of a Jewish family in late 60's Queens, New York City, and the budding romance between a widow and an Italian stranger.

Beeban Kidron's movie is full of fabulous characters played wonderfully by Shirley Maclaine, Marcello Mastroianni, Jessica Tandy, Kathy Bates and the ever enjoyable Marcia Gay Harden. Look also for veteran actress Sylvia Sidney who puts in a fine turn. A very satisfying movie to make you laugh and cry.

Wednesday, July 21, 1993 - Waverley Pinewood Cinema

"Moonstruck" wanna-be

[moonspinner55 · 5/10 · 16 December 2001]

Curiously cast, indifferently-made character-comedy never quite gets off the ground. There are some colorful and funny moments in "Used People", but it doesn't sparkle, it doesn't have any magic, it's just ordinary--and that's a shame. Shirley MacLaine is a widowed Jewish matriarch who falls in love again, much to the distress of her dysfunctional, now-grown children. I don't know about most viewers, but I had trouble accepting Kathy Bates as MacLaine's daughter (likewise Jessica Tandy as MacLaine's mother). It doesn't ring true, and the direction is askew and uneven throughout, yet there's a lot of sterling talent on display here and some of the dialogue is very funny. ** from ****

The Cast of a Lifetime

[drednm · 14 November 2005]

What a wonderful little movie! Simple story of thwarted lives and new-found love boasts one of the best casts in movie history.

Shirley MacLaine stars as a Jewish widow in 1969 New York who is pursued by a strange Italian, Marcello Mastroianni. He's waited for 23 years for her to be available. She has 2 troubled daughters, Kathy Bates and Marcia Gay Harden. Bates is fat and unhappy; Harden is nuts. Her mother, Jessica Tandy, is afraid of anything new. Also along for the ride are Sylvia Sidney, Joe Pantoliano, Louis Guss, Charles Cioffi, Bob Dishy, Doris Roberts, Helen Hanft, and cute Matthew Branton.

With 1969 New York as a backdrop, anything is possible. The Mets win the World Series.... We land on the moon..... And Mastroianni lands MacLaine! Simple, sweet, and beautifully acted.

The accents waver a tad, but on the whole this film is well written and acted. Tandy and Sidney are splendid as the old women looking for once last thrill--they move to Florida.... Bates and Harden are heartbreaking as the bickering sisters.... MacLaine and Mastroianni are perfection.

A rare chance to see 4 Oscar winners in one film!

Enjoy a tale simply told...

[crhoads-1 · 7/10 · 30 May 2006]

This film generally took a pounding by critics despite winning some Golden Globe awards (and we all know how realistic Globe balloting is, right?) but I think this time the forest was hidden by the trees. Yeah, there have been better "quirkey family" movies, but it has become so unfortunately rare that an adult movie makes it to the screen that we should step back and at least enjoy the view. And that view holds some of the cinema legends of our time supported by future legend potentials. "Letting-go-to-move-on" movies are many. But this one gives it to you in different and very human ways. There's no guarantee that things will be easy. The air conditioner Joe (Mastroiani) gives Pearl (MacLaine) is new but doesn't work right away because..."Joe never used it...he just let it sit in the basement". Beginning again takes work; is not always easy; and is made all the more difficult when the "new" beginning is the one we should have initially taken all too long ago. When Pearl sifts through her dead husbands clothes you feel the certainty in her unhappy marriage as much as the certainty in her staying regardless. The others in the cast, from Jessica Tandy on down, are tales simply and often told, and would have been diminished if given more layered or complex characterizations. Here we again see that life's answers are simple. But if they were really that simple we'd all have them. It takes each other to find them before it's too late.

A real skin crawler

[niel · 3/10 · 30 December 2001]

How bad could a movie be with such a cast? Well, used people is very bad! For one thing the charactors are all charicatures. Not that good actors can't play charactors that are not like themselves, they can. But such acting talent could not overcome stereotypes of New York Jews. Not only are their accents terrible but the dialog is awful too.

Overlooked Hollywood Gem -- MacLaine/Bates are Brilliant!

[mdm-11 · 9/10 · 15 October 2004]

An all-star cast delivers wonderful performances in this "overlooked treasure" of a comedy drama. The main story deals with a family's loss of their patriarch, who 20 years earlier was prepared to silently exit his family's life because he saw no hope for his marriage to a dominating wife. At the funeral a man enters the picture, insisting on speaking to the widow. He reveals the secret that during that fateful evening 20 years earlier, he had convinced the now deceased husband to save his marriage by "dancing with his wife". The man watched the couple from the street as they danced in their kitchen. He was hopelessly in love with the image of this woman who had just fallen in love again with her husband. Better late than never, he now percistantly builds a relationship and eventually marries the woman.

There are many subplots to the story. One tells of the boy who feels the "presence" of his dead grandfather, and is certain that he is now invincible. This leads to several incidents where the boy tempts fate by putting his life in danger. His mother, herself dealing with the recent death of a younger child, escapes into a fantasy world by dressing up as Marilyn Monroe or "Mrs. Robinson". There is also a sub-plot discussing how elderly view their prospects of growing more dependent on others and eventually dying.

The film's main setting is NYC 1969. There are several beautiful references to the time, i. e. the Moon landing and the Mets winning the World Series. -- You gotta watch this movie carefully in order not to miss a beat, but you will enjoy it. The final scene drives it home. 5 stars for this one!

Rent it for Marcello Mastroianni's chicken dance . . .

[lobo-21 · 4/10 · 2 February 2000]

but don't expect much else of interest. It's proof of his screen magic that one feels transported by this moment. Mastroianni seems to be freed to improvise in a lovely kitchen scene. It is always a treat to see him in a scene with children.

Splendid production

[aberlour36 · 10/10 · 10 February 2008]

After seeing this film, still not available on DVD, one wants to say, "How did this movie ever get made?" It is funny, intelligent, sensitive, and perceptive. No exploding cars. No teens making out. No monsters from outer space. Used People is just excellent and thoughtful entertainment of a sort that makes one want to cheer. The script is unusually good, and the acting is outstanding. The leads, Marcello Mastronini and Shirley McLaine, could not have been selected and directed with greater care. Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy, and Marcia Gay Harden are terrific. The photography is outstanding, and the sets recreate the 1940s and late 1960s very believably. The contrast between Jewish and Italian families in New York is most amusing. Why were no academy awards lavished on this film? Perhaps because it is out of step with contemporary cultural norms and deals essentially with seniors, i.e. people who have lived through much and have a measure of wisdom. Don't miss it.

"Moonstruck" wannabe falls flat on it's tuches!!

[Blooeyz2001 · 1/10 · 11 April 2002]

Someone I was dating brought this video over because it has all the elements of movies I usually enjoy: ethnicity, a 1960's New York setting, family, romance, etc. Well, I didn't like it & I almost fell asleep a few times during it & I wasn't even tired! There was not one character I liked or cared about in this film. It's filled with pretentious cartoon characters. Shirley MacLaine is totally unbelievable as a Jewish woman & her family's dysfunctional overload did not entertain, but drained & annoyed me. What bothered me most about this movie was that it depicted the Italian family totally one way, & the Jewish family totally another, as if all Italian people are like this, & all Jewish people are like that, & no family or person can possess individual traits that aren't a stereotype. The character who dresses up like different famous people was an idiotic, useless, & distracting idea. This was one long, boring snooze-fest.

This film won three awards, and if you are into family life and gags...

[nz man · 7 October 2000]

The critics did not like this film, and it now rates only a 5.6 for IMDB votes, but have a read of the positive comments below. My wife and I enjoyed this film. There are many meaningful parts, numerous gags and funny situations amidst the painful family life portrayed a la NYC Jewish-Italiano.

The three awards include two Golden Globes, and with Shirley MacLaine, Marcello Mastroianni, Marcia Gay Harden, and Kathy Bates, there is a lot more to this film than either the critics or voting would indicate.

It may not everyone's cup of tea, but well worth a video rental if you can appreciate the messages about family life. A good flick - go ahead and try it.

Had the Flavor, but was Overcooked

[VintageSoul56 · 5/10 · 25 July 2020]

I had been looking forward to seeing this movie. It's currently on Prime renting for $2.99. As my title indicates, it had a really good feel for the 1940's and 1960's, but it was overlong. At least 20 minutes of fat should have been trimmed. I thought that all of the performances were good. A couple out of place though, for instance, Jessica Tandy as an elderly Jewish woman in Queens, did not gel. They should have had Silvia Sydney in that role and not as the best friend. I disagree with some of the reviews that Shirley MacLaine was out of place as a 50 something Jewish woman, wife and mother in Queens. I thought that she did an excellent job. Kathy Bates is always good. Someone didn't see how she and Shirley were supposed to be mother and daughter. Not everyone in a family looks like either parent. Their looks could be a throwback to some ancestor. I liked how Kathy decided to stand on her own. She loved her mother, but had to do it from a distance. I can relate. Marcia Gay Harden was enjoyable playing the crazy daughter. Loved the outfits as she tried to emulate various movie stars, MM, Audrey, Barbra and Anne B in The Graduate. She's such a great actress. She's never disappointed me. Marcello Mastroianni was a little over the top as the over zealous suitor to MacLaine. Not his fault, it's the director's. As I said, there were about 6 to 8 scenes that could have been cut or shortened. I lost interest after the first 45 to 60 minutes. But, I will say that I did like the slice of New York life from two different cultures. Some people says it was sterotypical, but I enjoyed Shirley's, Kathy's, Marcia's and other various characters accents.

Great human story

[mls4182 · 10/10 · 10 December 2021]

I can't think of a film that had a better cast, story and acting.

I absolutely loved this film and its performances. It is about a Jewish family in 1969 Queens but as we know, human stories can be about any religion or ethnicity.

It's packed, it's fast-moving, it's funny, it's wonderfully acted - above all, it's human.

[Jim-249 · 9/10 · 24 January 1999]

If you like the "Moonstruck" kind of film - a many-layered, multi-charactered tumble of the comic and the tragic (with plenty of shouting and raging) romping to a happy ending - you'll love this. It's packed, it's fast-moving, it's funny, it's wonderfully acted - above all, it's human. The elderly, gentle Mastroianni still charms and delights, though it's a pity they challenged his English with so many difficult lines. As a counterbalance, Shirley Maclean is a Fury again (cf. "Steel Magnolias"), to be smoothed and softened only by the friction with daughter Bibby (Kathy Bates) and the dedication of her new suitor. True, the story has its creaks and groans - what better to road to a woman's heart than to save her grandson from certain death? - but exuberance carries the day, we are swept along and are happy to rejoice with the rest of the cast in the Grand Finale. Of course, if you didn't like "Moonstruck" . . .

One of the modern classics,,,about a classic time...

[stacypulliam27 · 10/10 · 15 September 2009]

,,,and a classic family.

This is simply one of the best films ever. Its one of my most favorites and hopefully it will be released on DVD very soon.

Shirley MacClaine is the queen bee and Marcello Mastriontanni is the bees knees! Fantastic performances all around and a rich story that will leave you remembering the film for years to come. The cultural aspect here is cheerful and insightful and the whole idea of living in NY in the 60s was a blast to me when I first saw this. ( I was 11- so I had an imagination- sue me!)

Highly recommended! 10 stars.

One of my favorite movies!

[gifford86 · 25 May 2010]

Slow dancing to a '40s love tune, slow driving to a cemetery 25 years later. A stranger appears at the Shiva, tenderly offering condolences. Pearl's buttoned-down life precludes a relationship with this man. But he persists, with his warm Italian accent, to break down the barriers. Flowers, dinner for her whole family and his, an air-conditioner, a kiss shared while wading in a children's pool, lying beside her in bed to see if they "fit", all culminate in standing before a hippie-Jewish rabbi and a hippie-Catholic priest and saying "I do." In between, others in their lives have their share of problems. Little Sweetpea makes like Superman and tries to dare the Fates, relying on his dead grandfather to save him. Daughter number one, having lost a son, tries on a multitude of roles to survive. Daughter Bibi who hates her nickname, fights her fat battle and her mother battle. Grandma and friend fight each other but end up singing, "Moon Over Miami" together. It's a "happily ever after" movie. In real life there are no guarantees, but "Used People" shows us that, just, maybe, we can make our own happiness.

Romantic comedy with many good characters

[guisreis · 8/10 · 12 June 2021]

My feeling is that the film could have been better. As a whole, it is a little irregular, lacking some cohesion. However, the parts it is composed by are very nice, charming, funny, smart. The collection of well-developped and unique characters is excellent, and all actors do a great job. Then, although with reservations, I consider it a good and singular romantic comedy.

The Sky Fell Down

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 27 December 2020]

Some great roles for woman were written in the end of the last century such as Thelma And Louise, Steel Magnolias, Fried Green Tomatoes, Moonstruck, and this one, slightly overlooked in that stellar company. Used People tells a wonderful tale of a widow and grandmother played by Shirley MacLaine to whom a second love comes right at the funeral of her husband.

As this Jewish family is sitting Shiva for MacLaine's husband, Marcello Mastroianni comes in, unknown and imparts a secret to MacLaine concerning her late husband.

Mastroianni intrigues her, but MacLaine's most Jewish of families is against the very idea of her keeping company with him.

There are a host of wonderful roles besides the leads and it's the mark of a great film that these characters are invested with individuality by the writers. Some great players bring said individuality to those parts.

MacLaine's two daughters, Marcia Gay Harden and Kathy Bates are as different as can be. Harden is constantly acting out with different Hollywood legends portrayed. She's a real drama queen, years later still in mourning for a child she lost. She has a great scene with her other young son Michael Branton who also been acting out some dangerous things.

Kathy Bates was the less favored daughter with a weight problem who lets MacLaine have it. Bates is sick of the indulgence given Hardenand who could blame her.

Two aged actresses from earlier days, Sylvia Sidney and Jessica Tandy have some wonderful scenes as a pair of old Jewish yentas. They quarrel but there's a bond there.

An old tune that Frank Sinatra recorded with Tommy Dorsey, The Sky Fell Down provides a great musical theme for November/November romance.

Used People is a great ensemble film and should get a lot more attention than it has gotten.

What a cast!

[lor_ · 9 August 2023]

My review was written in December 1992 after watching the movie in a Manhattan screening room.

A modern, absurdist sensibility informs the soap opera "Used People", making this Fox release an unusual and problematic entry in the crowded holiday sweepstakes. Terrific cast should ensure a hefty audience sample.

Peopled with an eye toward the growing market segment that patronzed its stars' hits "Steel Magnolias", "Driving Miss Daisy" and "Fried Green Tomatoes", the Largo film actually harks back to '50s weepies. With Shirley MacLaine as its spine, the film updates the type of pictures that Shirley Booth (e.g., in "About Miss Leslie") or Jane Wyman routinely used to make.

Actor Todd Graff has scripted an actors' showcase, with heightened performances by the ensemble eschewing the naturalism favored by mainstream fare. Whether viewers will get with the program is another matter; film's trailer emphasizes its comedic elements (and sight gags) while hiding its more ambitious melodramatic segments.

Set in 1969 in the Sunnyside section of Queens, New York, the film limns the colorful family life of a Jewish matriarchy centered around MacLaine, whose husband (Bob Dishy) has just died. Key characters include her protective mom (Jessica Tandy), dysfunctional children (Kathy Bates and Marcia Gay Harden), both of whom have been divorced, and Tandy's best friend (Sylvia Sidney).

Enter Marcello Mastroianni, MacLaine's secret admirer who uses the family's sitting shiva after Dishy's funeral as his occasion to make his platonic affection for her manifest. As shown in flashbacks, he met Dishy in his brother Charles Cioffi's bar 23 years ago and encouraged him to continue his marriage to Shirley rather than leave her.

The family's rejection of Mastroianni and cross-cultural antics between them and Mastroianni's Italian-American clan make for some effective comedy in the middle reels but Graff's work is built around highly dramatic confrontation scenes. In particular, a heart-rending fight between MacLaine and daughter Bates becomes the film's emotional core, marred only by Graff's frequently obvious dialogue.

As demonstrated in her previous picture, "Antonia & Jane", British director Beeban Kidron is fond of injecting caricature and satire, here personified by Harden's character who keeps imitating movie icons like Marilyn Monroe and Anne Bancroft in "The Graduate". Latter motif digresses at length as she and Mastrroianni's brother-in-law (Joe Pantoliano) engage in a Dustin Hoffman/Bancroft sex scene that segues to light bondage.

Least successful element of black humor involves Harden's young son (Mathew Branton), who believes grandpa Dishy's spirit is protecting him. Throughout the film he places himself in suicidal situations only to be saved by luck. Like Graff's other subplots, this yields a heartwarming resolution but is tough sledding along the way.

MacLaine's precise acting is laudatory and balanced by a very sympathetic turn by twinkle-eyed Mastroianni, in his best English-language role so far. The support ensemble is excellent, with Sylvia Sidney, perfectly matched opposite Tandy, stealing most of her scenes adroitly. Harden's work, as it was in "Miller's Crossing", is promising but brittle compared with the ease shown by her vet co-stars.

Both Tandy and Bates have essentially supporting assignments but fans will appreciate their lack of showboating here. David Watkin, who covered similar territory in lensing "Moonstruck", photographs the action unobtrusively while capturing some memorable images, such as Harden visiting a cemetery or MacLaine dancing in her apartment. Rachel Portman's score handily supports the film's serious mood and helps avoid risibility.

Better than fun or adventure, true joy

[yahna · 10/10 · 9 May 2006]

This story is one of family love and tolerance. It reaches into touching depths that goodness and unconditional love are far more important than self and ego. This love story is very refreshing as it is based on mutual appreciation and admiration. Joe is looking for for a lady that is dedicated and Pearl needs his sincere caring. The movie projects characters that can be liked regardless of their faults. Very well cast as each actor seems to bring their characters alive as if they are a real people one might know and want to know. It is a movie that gives a new message each time it is viewed. Watch this movie and enjoy the tenderness.

Tremendous cast stuck in a rather tiresome rut

[mnpollio · 27 July 2011]

Either the producers behind Used People are incredible salespeople or there was once something in this screenplay which attracted the amazing cast that proliferates this film. Unfortunately, whatever charm may once have been inherent in the story fails to make its way to the screen in the end product.

The story centers on a NYC Jewish matriarch Shirley MacLaine, who is taken aback following her husband's funeral when Italian charmer Marcello Mastroianni introduces himself as a friend of the deceased who has loved her from afar for years. Around this rather astounding declaration, MacLaine and Mastroianni's extended family spins in their own assorted subplots. MacLaine has two daughters - Kathy Bates and Marcia Gay Harden - with whom she has embattled relationships with. Her young grandson, convinced that the spirit of his grandfather is protecting him, runs about doing one dangerous stunt after another. Meanwhile, her mother Jessica Tandy and her best friend Sylvia Sidney kvetch from the sidelines. Everything gets tied up in a neat little bow in time for the U.S. moon landing.

The film is obviously trying to be something in the same vein as Moonstruck, but its fails spectacularly and only increases appreciation of that earlier film. The bulk of the film's problems stem from the screenplay and the characters. Did there really have to be this many people? Bates is a great actress, but her character is too generic. By contrast, Harden is so off-the-wall that no scene with her can possibly be taken seriously. Harden spends the film donning one cinematic disguise after another - one moment she is Mrs. Robinson from The Graduate, in another scene she is Bonnie Parker from Bonnie and Clyde, etc. This is obviously a woman with something pathological wrong with her and the fact that almost no one in the film addresses it is disturbing.

Tandy and Sidney are fun as the old-timers, but they are given limited screen time. And even with that it is hard to dismiss the notion that Tandy is miscast and Sidney should have been given her role instead.

Most damning of all is that it is impossible to root for a romance between MacLaine and Mastroianni. I usually enjoy MacLaine, but she is playing a cast-iron shrew here. She comes off as an utterly joyless woman who gets her jollies by picking other people apart - especially those unwilling or unable to defend themselves. When the good-natured Bates finally summons the courage to escape her mother's home and malignant influence, she should be given a moment where she lays out how MacLaine has denigrated her. Instead, somehow MacLaine gets a foolish rant about how everything impacts her - revealing the utter selfishness in an unlikable character. We can see no reason why anyone with an iota of intelligence would fall for such a charmless person - and this ends up making the otherwise charming Mastroianni seem either delusional or insane. If we have nothing invested in the romantic central pairing, then the film can only be considered an abject failure.

This is the kind of film where literally every character on screen is given a manufactured crisis that can then be solved magically by the climax. MacLaine will find love with Mastroianni, Tandy and Sidney will find satisfaction in their twilight years, Harden will learn to put away her childish game and become a mother to her needy son. It is the kind of film where Bates has barely left MacLaine's sphere of influence to launch a new life across the country, before she has returned a "success" - which means she shows up at a family function with a new hairstyle.

A really brazen and shallow film that would work far better as a low-rent sitcom.

An All Star Cast in Late 1960's Queens

[duryead · 9/10 · 1 March 2023]

Let me start off by saying I enjoyed this film for several reasons but when the soundtrack is good it definitely elevates the film to a whole new level! Kudos to film composer Rachel Portman! Well Done! This soundtrack transported me back to a nostalgic taste of late 60's/early 1970's Queens, NY! I was a kid back then but the sights and sounds brought me back to that time period. I remember seeing this film in the theater with my grandmother one winter afternoon in 1993 and she told me about the song The Sky Fell Down sung by a young Frank Sinatra accompanied by Tommy Dorsey and it has stayed with me ever since and whenever I hear this song I always remember her and that delightful afternoon we spent together.

As for the cast, I enjoyed the performances by Shirley MacLaine, Jessica Tandy, Marcia Gay Harden, Kathy Bates and Marcello Mastroianni and a special honorable mention to some of the secondary actors such as Doris Roberts as Aunt Lonnie, even then you see it was a forerunner to her eventual success as Marie Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond! I always envisioned an episode on ELR where Doris Roberts ( Marie Barone) stars opposite Shirley MacLaine in a rival-like reunion where Shirley gives Doris a run for her money! Maybe she could have played Debra's snooty aunt from Connecticut or maybe one of Marie's rich cousins sort of like what Jean Stapleton played in one of the earlier ELR episodes at a family funeral.

I also enjoyed Marcia G Harden and Kathy Bates' performances as the quarreling sisters. I think almost every family has sibling rivalry but they really knocked it out of the park for me! I can identify with both sisters but I can empathize with Kathy Bates as Bibi (Barbara Berman) in her role as the dutiful ugly duckling who gets overlooked by her mother who gives her TLC to her younger sister who has an emotional breakdown due to her son's crib death. At first I felt that Marcia G Harden ( Norma Shulman) was vain and selfish but then I came to understand her better as her character evolves and matures later in the film. I also enjoyed a scene between MacLaine and Bates in the hallway of her building when Pearl (MacLaine) goes on an angry tirade to tell her daughter BiBi (Bates) that she was sorry that she hadn't felt loved as a child but had other things on her mind like WWII and the Depression and that if she had reflected on her own life (Pearl) and what she had missed a rage would come out of her that would blow Bibi and Queens off the face of the GD map! Wow! Talk about unexpressed anger!!! Personally, I think they were both right in their assessment of life and the people around them. Words do have power and Pearl sadly destroyed her daughter Bibi's self-esteem and Pearl had to be made aware of that even though she hated to be reproached about it by BiBi I can also identify with Sweet Pea played by Matthew Branton who engages in reckless behavior thinking he is protected by his late grandfather, Jack but in reality he is a young wounded boy in a great deal of emotional pain due to family loss and his mother's own emotional baggage. Who could forget Bibi's delightful children reciting their little anecdotal tales about Easter and praying to be led out of Penn Station.

Overall, Used People is a fine and underrated film with an equally fine soundtrack/score which transports you back to Queens in the late 1960's. Highly recommend to watch at least once!

Try, try again

[jaykay-10 · 25 March 2004]

If this is not (intentionally or otherwise) a pilot for a TV series, what is it? Episodic, altogether lacking in unity and narrative flow, there is enough caricature and stereotyping to offend the sensibilities of most Jewish- and Italian-Americans. To understand the characters' motivations, a viewer must look beyond what is presented here - i.e., must imagine why these characters act as they do, since the explanations are not forthcoming in the film. If you were left wondering what is going to happen next to Pearl, her daughters, her grandson, her new husband and his family - all of their situations left open-ended - you were more absorbed in this claptrap than most viewers are likely to be.

The performances are not at all bad, but then, one-dimensional characters don't present much of a challenge.

Moonstruck Gone Schticky

[DamienWasHere · 5 October 2003]

This movie is a shameless, poor man's knockoff of the almost-as-bad and terribly overrated, "Moonstruck" --

MacClaine's performance is unbearable. What was with her attempt at an ethnic New York accent? She wound up sounding like Lanie Kazan with adenoids. Jessica Tandy, by this time, was on life support, and so overused and played out, that you've got to feel sorry for her.

Everybody else in the script, save for Marcello, has a "New Yawk" accent while Tandy sounds like the local Mrs. Vanderbilt. She must have gone to a finishing school in Flatbush.

Marcello is dragged into this mess in a blatant attempt to add legitimacy to the drivel -- poor guy.

Used People must have been green-lighted by a USED Car Salesman. It's a worse-than-Moonstruck (and that ain't easy) atrocity.

Sorry but I calls 'em as I sees 'em.

Damien

Stumped for a video worth seeing, check this one out

[donmac72 · 28 September 2000]

The writer and director were not satisfied with a straight forward story, and stretched for effect a little too obviously. The subplots do not comfortably weave into the main story thread of the film. However, there are some very fine attempts to pull things together in telling scenes. I recommend Used People to viewers weary of car chases, ear splitting sound tracks and teen age angst. You won't regret spending some time with almost real people.