It’s a special week for Fe-Burt-uary! Not only is it Valentine’s Day, but this week also marks what would have been Burt Reynolds’ 89th birthday, his birthday was February 11th. Sadly, Burt passed away from a heart attack in 2018, leaving behind a rich legacy of 20ish box-office hits, a successful sitcom Evening Shade (CBS, 1990–1994), seven Golden Globe nominations and two wins, two Emmy nominations, and a single Oscar nomination. After watching Starting Over, I would argue that it should have been two Oscar nominations.
Directed by Alan J. Pakula in a rare non-thriller outing and adapted from Dan Wakefield’s book by none other than James L. Brooks, Starting Over is a film about a middle-aged man torn between his new love and his old love.
Burt Reynolds plays Phil Potter, a writer who claims that you can find his work in the magazines tucked behind the barf bags on airplanes. Phil is recently separated from his wife, Jessica (Candice Bergen), who has been having an affair and wants to pursue a singing career. As a result, Phil has to start over, oh, now I get it.
Phil moves to Boston to stay with his brother, Mickey (Charles Durning), and Mickey’s wife, Marva (Frances Sternhagen). He takes a part-time job teaching English at a local college and meets Marilyn (Jill Clayburgh), a charming yet irritable nursery school teacher. Their interactions range from sweet to highly contentious.
I give Starting Over credit for feeling like a real story with real people and few flourishes. This is also why I found the movie boring at times. Outside of Reynolds and Clayburgh’s interactions, the movie is never funny enough nor dramatic enough to fully engage me. Which is a shame because there are good elements. A recurring subplot involves Phil attending a group meeting for divorced men. When I saw that three of those men were Jay O. Russell, Austin Pendleton, and Wallace Shawn, I got excited. You’d expect those scenes with those talents to be played for high comedy, but no. This movie is subtle with a capital S.
More disappointing is how much the film makes us dislike Jessica, played by the great Candice Bergen. I get that Jessica cheated on Phil, but considering the film teases a “will they, won’t they?” storyline about them getting back together, the script does little to make any part of Jessica endearing. This is surprising considering that the same screenwriter literally wrote a movie with “endearment” in the title. Jessica comes off as mean and selfish, and you never believe that she and Phil are going to get back together, so why waste our time?
The only reason to watch this movie is for Phil (Reynolds) and Marilyn (Clayburgh) and the spark they bring to every scene. Right from the get-go, when Marilyn first encounters Phil on the street and thinks he’s a creep following her, only to find out they’re both on their way to visit Mickey and Marva, there’s fire between them. Or when Phil calls Marilyn his “friend” at Thanksgiving because he hasn’t come to terms with his marriage ending, and they fight. These scenes are awkward but compelling.
Though Reynolds was known onscreen for his smarmy charisma, everyone looks right through him in Starting Over. Marilyn likes him not for his antics, but for the damaged, sensitive soul he is underneath all that. It’s a far more layered Burt Reynolds performance than we’re accustomed to. Which is why it’s no surprise that Pakula didn’t want to cast him.
Alan J. Pakula initially wanted a New York-trained actor for the role of Phil. His initial choices were Al Pacino or Dustin Hoffman. I don’t know about you, but doesn’t that sound like a movie you’ve already seen before? Reynolds lobbied for the role, and after two auditions, he nabbed the part. Ultimately, Pakula was impressed by Reynolds’ performance, which led to a Golden Globe nomination, but no Oscar love. This despite his co-leads, Jill Clayburgh and Candice Bergen, both securing nominations, along with some bullshit song from Marvin Hamlisch.
Let’s take a look at the Best Actor race from that year:
Best Actor
– Dustin Hoffman – Kramer vs. Kramer
– Jack Lemmon – The China Syndrome
– Al Pacino – …And Justice for All
– Roy Scheider – All That Jazz
– Peter Sellers – Being There
Okay, so Hoffman definitely deserved the win, and I’m not going to argue against Al Pacino or Roy Scheider. Jack Lemmon in Best Actor feels like category fraud, as I would consider him supporting, at least for the first chunk of that movie. Peter Sellers? Let’s get that weirdo Chauncey Gardner outta here. “There will be a growth in the spring” my ass!
Okay, so I can’t make much of a case for Burt filling one of those spots, but he’s doing good work here. Maybe if he’d been recognized more often, he would have done more movies like this and fewer like Cannonball Run 2. Burt had the chops to carry a romance, whether it be a comedy or a drama, and it’s on full display here (even without the mustache). Thanks for reading and have a Happy V-Day, y’all!
XOXO,
John