HEARTBURN. Directed by Mike Nichols; written by Nora Ephron; produced by Mike Nichols and Robert Greenhut for Paramount. Starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson. Rated R (language).
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Heartburn is an unexceptional little movie that wants very much to be a farce, but isn't allowed. Too bad, too. Some of its scenes are very witty. And it makes some game attempts at black humor and even comic fantasy that would have been interesting in the proper context.
But the overall mood is too serious and realistic. The comedy is too strained under such conditions.
What's more, Heartburn is burdened with some problems that wouldn't be worrisome, or even noticeable, if it were an out-and-out comedy. But as it is, they're annoying, at best.
Who cares in a screwball comedy, for example, if some of the characters aren't fully developed ... Or if their motivations aren't understandable. In Heartburn we do care, and we wonder; but in vain.
Rachel (Streep) and Mark (Nicholson) fall in love at first sight. And despite their protestations against the value of marriage (both are divorced), they decide to tie the knot.
Then life goes on. They buy a house that's a real "fixer-upper" opportunity, have one baby and start another. Except for a couple of very mild little dust-ups over missing socks, they seem to be perfectly happy. Then, out of the blue, Rachel discovers Mark's been having an affair.
Throughout Heartburn, the focus is completely on Rachel. The fact that Mark is slighted by the movie doeen't seem important until the affair comes up.
Then, though, since Nicholson has made him a charming and likeable fellow, we want to understand him, too. What could lead someone so charming and likeable to do something so crummy?
But precisely at this point, he becomes even less a part of the movie. Now, given that Ephron wrote the screenplay of Heartburn from her novel (which, I understand, is thinly disguised autobiography), it's not surprising that the movie should focus on her alter ego. But someone less charismatic than Nicholson should have been cast as Mark.
Heartburn isn't totally weighed down by this lack of balance between its main characters ... or by its uncomfortable pairing of comedy and melodrama. The performances, as one would expect, are outstanding. And not only those of the stars. In fact, there's almost too much talent in the cast, with such excellent and appealing actors as Jeff Daniels, Stockard Channing and Maureen Stapleton practically wasted on small, inconsequential roles.
Movies that are funny and serious at the same time do work, of course, occasionally. And, ironically, director Nichols has provided one of the classic examples: The Graduate. But he didn't call up the same magic for Heartburn.
August 6, 1986