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NEVER AGAIN Send This Review to a Friend
Certainly the subject of middle-aged people who have had unsuccessful relationships being wary about new commitments is plot fodder, but although the acting is fine, writer-director Eric Shaeffer's screenplay is painfully trite and contrived. It proves that supposedly mature adults can talk as vapidly as inexperienced teenagers. And by the way, do adults in their fifties, the sort portrayed by Jill Clayburgh and Jeffrey Tambor, confine themselves to making passionate love with their clothes on? Ms. Clayburgh certainly would seem to look attractive enough not to defy credibility.
But that's only one instance of "Never Again" being silly and disappointingly unconvincing. There is nothing wrong with the premise. Grace (Clayburgh) is divorced and feeling the pangs of not having had a man in her life for a long time and her daughter scooting off to college. Grace's pals (Caroline Aaron and Sandy Duncan) encourage her to get out there and meet someone. Meanwhile, Christopher (Tambor), who works as an exterminator but pursues playing jazz as a hobby, has been unsuccessful at love and just wants casual sex without commitment. His friend and musician buddy (Bill Duke) tells him to shape up and find somebody for a permanent relationship. Grace and Christopher will meet, we know, and that's where the script stupidities begin.
Grace is nudged to try the web, and the man who shows up is one of the little people. Embarrassing and outrageous scene number one. Meanwhile, Christopher suddenly can't get an erection in a casual bedroom encounter and has a funny gay dream, so he thinks maybe he's homosexual, very silly after his lifetime of success sleeping with women. Off he goes to meet gays to see if he's been on the wrong track. There is an embarrassingly sad and obnoxious scene with a she-male. Grace and friends agree to meet at a corner bar, which just happens to be gay. So Grace and Christopher "meet cute" in the gay bar, which leads to an initial misunderstanding.
As they get to know one another they fall in love and a commitment crisis is inevitable. Along the way there are some funny scenes with sex toys but they are unbelievable in the context of the characters. The screenplay makes them behave so foolishly that it is impossible to take the subject matter at all seriously, and the plot catalyst that drives the quarrelling lovers together is a particularly tired cliché. As for a climactic scene in which Clayburgh wears a suit of armor, it is so dreadful and beyond stupid that it wipes out any positive memories that may linger, such as the pleasures of seeing Tambor as a romantic lead and becoming re-acquainted with Clayburgh's talent. A USA Films release.
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