ONE FINE DAY (54)

Directed by: Michael Hoffman

Starring: Michelle Pfeiffer, George Clooney, Charles Durning

The Pitch: Divorced mother and divorced father, plus their respective kids - all of them initially hating each other - are forced to spend a working day together in New York City.

Theo Sez: A witty, well-crafted romantic comedy for the not-so-romantic 90s - indeed, even more than in JERRY MAGUIRE (released almost simultaneously), you wonder if the film is even aware of what a nightmarish picture it's painting of emotional life in today's urban America - a place of desperate loneliness, near-zero job security (even for workaholics), ubiquitous divorce casualties, endless rushing around. In fact, the reason why it flopped and JERRY MAGUIRE was a hit is perhaps that this doesn't even accept the possibility of true love breaking through the general desolation in a glorious burst of energy: after the bickering has turned to smiles, and their lips have come mere inches apart, and Van Morrison has slobbered all over the soundtrack, our romantic duo do end up sleeping together - but only sleeping together, on the couch, both utterly exhausted (by their day, by their lives), with their kids looking on and laughing as the credits begin to roll. It's actually a fine movie - the lines are smart, the stars are entirely charming, the structure (though over-extended by about 15 minutes) is excellent, moving everything at a good pace and incorporating about half-a-dozen sub-plots. It's just that it thinks it's doing something campy and frothy, some update of Rock Hudson and Doris Day, when it's actually closer to a New York Kafka.