Just the Way You Are * (1984, Kristy McNichol, Michael Ontkean, André Dussolier, Robert Carradine) – Classic Movie Review 12,177

Kristy McNichol struggles valiantly in Edouard Molinaro’s superficial 1984 romantic comedy-drama disability film Just the Way You Are.

Director Edouard Molinaro’s 1984 superficial disability film Just the Way You Are is a very bitty movie, with hints of satire, romance, drama and broad comedy without a strong enough developed story to hold an intriguing central premise together.

Attractive actress Kristy McNichol struggles valiantly as Susan Berlanger, an emotionally and physically handicapped Philadelphia professional flautist (she cannot come to terms with the idea that she has been handicapped since childhood and has to wear a leg brace) who takes up an offer to travel to Europe on a concert tour.

In Paris, she has the idea of disguising her leg by putting it in a cast and trekking on her own to a ski-piste in the French Alps in an attempt to experience what life is like without everyone regarding her with patronising sympathy.

Then, though not looking for romance, she finds herself courted by several handsome suitors, played by Michael Ontkean, André Dussolier and Robert Carradine. Susan and news photographer Peter (Ontkean) soon fall in love, but there are the problems of Peter’s narcissistic girlfriend Bobbie (Alexandra Paul) and the truth about Susan’s disability.

Also in the cast are Kaki Hunter, Lance Guest, Timothy Daly, Patrick Cassidy, Catherine Salviat, Alexandra Paul, Gérard Jugnot, Billy Kearns, Joyce Gordon, Wayne Robson, Paul Soles, Robert Scott, Jefferson Mappin, and Jim Fusco.

It was shot in Toronto and in France, where McNichol suffered an emotional breakdown through a chemical imbalance and the production stopped for her to recover but had to wait for a year to re-start as the second half of the film required winter shooting.

Its box office of $7,889,694 was not strong, but strong enough in the circumstances.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,177

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