ROXANNE. Directed by Fred Schepisi; Writteb by Steve Martin; produced by Michael Rachmil and Daniel Melnick for Columbia. Starring Steve Martin, Daryl Hannah and Rich Rossovich. Rated PG (sexual humor and references).
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Roxanne ia a delightful retelling of the Cyrano de Bergerac story in a contemporary setting. Complete with swordfights (although performed with tennis racket and ski pole), a pleasantly snappy storyline and a hero with an amazingly natural-looking, really incredible, nose.
C.D. (Martin) is fire chief in Nelson, Washington. (The movie was actually filmed in a beautiful little town in Britiah Columbia, Canada). Witty and dapper, his only psychological soft spot is, understandably, for nose jokes.
When astronomer Roxanne (Hannah) moves into Nelson for the summer, C.D. becomes quite smitten. And so does Roxanne. But her affections are attracted by the well-built but not overly intelligent Chris (Rossovich). This is a little curious since she professes to want more than just a physical relationship.
Anyone who has even heard of the original story knows what happens next. Chris gets silver-tongued C.D. to do the wooing for him, and the fair Roxanne is his, at least for a while.
Martin's talent is what makes Roxanne work, in spite of character inconsistencies and plot improbabilities. He gets to do some physical comedy (although most of that is left to his volunteer fire brigade) as well as crack witty and sophisticated jokes. His audience for the latter consists mainly of Roxanne and her landlady Dixie (Shelley Duvall), who must be the only two other intelligent residents of Nelson.
Both kinds of humor work well. But more important, C.D. is a likeable character who ia easy to care about. Since Roxanne is really about him, and not about its title character, it'a an enjoyable movie.
Hannah is the weak link here. She fulfills the physical demands of being Roxanne beautifully—it's not hard to imagine two, or even two dozen, guys in love with her. But she'e a little hard to accept as a scientist, not to mention as a mature-beyond-her-years sophisticate looking for an intellectually fulfilling relationship.
Maybe she'a just too young for C.D. Dixie might have been a better choice. Duvall makes the landlady, also an old friend of C.D.'s, more interesting than she really has to be. And the rest of the supporting cast is equally fine and full of scene stealers. Fred Willard, as Nelson's mayor, does his usual hilarioualy slick used-car-salesman character.
All of the volunteer firemen are funny, but Michael J. Pollard (remember Bonny and Clyde ?) is a highlight as the spaciest of this whole crazy crew. Rossovich does a good job with his one-track-mind character, too.
July 1, 1987