Forget Paris *** (1995, Billy Crystal, Debra Winger) – Classic Movie Review 1592

Written, directed by and starring Billy Crystal, this 1995 romantic comedy sees him as Mickey Gordon, a basketball referee who meets a French-speaking American (Debra Winger) in Paris, where he has arrived to bury his father. Winger plays Ellen Andrews, who lives in Paris and works for the airline Mickey flies on. They enjoy a whirlwind romance that ends – literally – in a rocky marriage. They then try to forget their heady romance in Paris and get on with married life in the States, but their lives take different paths.

Crystal’s second film as director (after Mr Saturday Night in 1992) is packed with laughs, charm and good humour without being truly special. But, even when the script wobbles, the playing is still first-rate. The super stars show their enjoyable comic chemistry in a superior romantic story that deals with serious relationship issues while keeping up the humorous momentum.

Crystal’s regular collaborators Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel help him out on the screenplay, which tells the couple’s love story in flashback via friends waiting for them to arrive at a restaurant. Joe Mantegna, Richard Masur, Juile Kavner and William Hickey help him out on the acting front.

By 2014, Mr Saturday Night and Forget Paris are Crystal’s only two cinema films as director.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1592

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