Modern Romance *** (1981, Albert Brooks, Kathryn Harrold, Bruno Kirby, Jane Hallaren, Tyann Means) – Classic Movie Review 10,741

Unlikely renaissance man Albert Brooks co-writes, directs and stars in the funny, offbeat 1981 comedy Modern Romance about a compulsively neurotic movie editor called Robert Cole who cannot handle his fixation on beautiful, intelligent Mary Harvard (Kathryn Harrold), who works in a bank.

Co-writer/ director Albert Brooks’s 1981 comedy motors on the amusing performances from Brooks as the bumbling Robert Cole and Harrold as the capable Mary Harvard, while the script is full of insights about love and Hollywood, with lots of insider humour like the casting of director James L Brooks (no relation) as a director.

This proved a good move for Albert Brooks, since James L Brooks then cast him in his Broadcast News (1987).

Also in the cast are Bruno Kirby, Jane Hallaren, James L Brooks, George Kennedy, Tyann Means, Karen Chandler, Dennis Kort, Bob Einstein, Virginia Feingold and Thelma Leeds.

Brooks directs and co-writes (with Monica Johnson) and they went on to write Lost in America (1985) together.

Films directed by Albert Brooks: Real Life (1979), Modern Romance (1981), Lost in America (1985), Defending Your Life (1991), Mother (1996), The Muse (1999) and Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World (2005).

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,741

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