Face the Music (1993)

[Eclaire 0]

Patrick Dempsey and Molly Ringwald star in this little-known trainwreck of a comedic film as Charlie and Lisa (Hollis) Hunter, ex-husband and wife and ex- successful (?) songwriting duo. Charlie and Lisa broke up three years ago (which we see as a contrived, 2 minute prologue/flashback) and both haven't been very successful since. Lisa's floundering as a solo lounge-type singer and Charlie has abandoned music altogether in favor of a career in real estate investment supplied by his posh British (French...?) fiancee Julie (apparently pronounced Zjew-lee for some reason).

 

Suddenly a film producer pops up on the scene to offer them an undisclosed amount of money ("make-all-my-problems-go-away" kind of money) for them to write a song for his new (god-awful) film. He wants Charlie and Lisa because he "fell in love with his third wife" over their last hit song. The catch? They have to write the song in four days (why? don't worry about that!) and, by the way, they hate each other. In the predictable process they fight, hijinks ensue, posh and purposesfully unlikeable fiancee is posh and purposesfully unlikeable and Charlie and Lisa rekindle their love for one another. Oh, and Molly Ringwald sings... a lot. Badly.

 

This film is just... just terrible.

 

Questions to ask yourself while watching include:

 

1. Why does this film take place in France, when almost no one is French or speaks French (besides hey? and how ya doing?). You could have easily set this film in, oh, I don't know, upstate New York with the exact same effect.

 

2. Why *WHY* do Julie and Daniel, go by "Zjew-lee" and "Dany-elle"? Neither character is French. Both are British and Lisa and Charlie are American. After a while you want to start a drinking game where you sip everytime Charlie says "Zjew-lee" all affected-like, just to stop yourself from cringing. Even if those characters were rewritten to be British rather than French, that doesn't explain why their NAMES are prounced that way.

 

3. How long did it take the prop department to find those Rainbow salt and pepper shakers... or did they just fit the song to match any old junk they found at a flea market somewhere? Instead of "Making Rainbows" maybe the song could have been "Making Bakelite Ashtrays" or "Making Commemorative Disney Character Spoons" in some alternate universe?

 

4. What is up with the jewlery these women are wearing? How much money did Lisa pay for those fugly gold spiral earrings for her to lay on the floor in a gross, seedy Parisian nightclub bathroom and flop around like a fish to keep from loosing one?

 

5. Did the editor get cut-happy or were these scenes all supposed to end super and awkwardly abrubt like that?

 

6. Do they ever fix the cement mixer by getting the gurkins out?

 

And many, many more questions abound.

 

If you'd like to watch the trailer it can be found here, making the movie look not entirely terrible: https://www.youtube....h?v=t374TVBNGw8

 

If you'd like to watch the full movie it can be seen on Hulu PLUS or rented on Amazon Instant Video.

 

Watch it! WATCH IT NOW!

[SlidePocket 707]

This was made when Molly Ringwald was still struggling to break away from her Brat Pack image, while Patrick Dempsey was going through a bit of a lull after "Can't Buy Me Love" before Grey's Anatomy brought him back in the limelight.