LACKS AN INTERESTING STORY -

The 1973 Blume in Love is about a divorce lawyer who faces his own worst nightmare when he must draw up his own divorce papers. With its tagline, "A love story for guys who cheat on their wives," and the plot's timid, 1960s and 70s attitudes, the film probably had more of a chance to win favor with audiences in 1973 than today. Still, fans of Blume in Love's stars will probably enjoy the trip down memory lane.

Stephen Blume (George Segal) is in the depths of despair. From his vantage point on the Plaza San Marco near St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, he retells his saga in segments in voice over. Sitting listening to the beautiful music from the concert, he eyes all the people nearby in love and wonders why he lost the only woman he will ever love.

Stephen and Nina (Susan Anspach) meet at a protest rally, have a few dances and are soon dating. They marry and settle into a passionate but sensible life. She works at the welfare office, he a divorce lawyer who spends his days consoling mostly rich women in LA seeking revenge on their cheating husbands;   Mrs. Cramer (Shelley Winters) one prime example.

Boredom, a moment of weakness or pure insanity (Stephen spends a long time in therapy to figure out the exact cause) crumbles the walls of martial bliss when Stephen goes home early one day with his secretary (Annazette Chase) in tow. Now why wouldn't they go to her place? Anyway, Nina, reeling from a really bad cold, also goes home early and catches them in bed.

She doesn't rant, rave, and scratch the other woman's eyes out. She merely throws Stephen out and never looks back. Stephen immediately recognizes the errors of his ways and does everything to win her back.

When Nina hooks up with Elmo (Kris Kristofferson), one of her homeless clients who can't seem to find a job as a musician but has time and money to smoke pot, Stephen befriends Elmo hoping to become a wedge between the two. Since Nina will still have nothing more than an occasional conversation with him, Stephen takes up with Arlene (Marsha Mason) but makes sure she understands it's purely a sexual relationship.

From there on the movie covers the same old long scenario and it's never pumped up by believable characters, sincere dialogue, or an interesting story.

Segal (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, 1966) is a great actor but he's one note here, a sad sack and deserved loser. Susan Anspach (The Big Fix, 1978) offers a pretty face and nothing more. She lacks any emotion in her character and her cherry smile brings nothing amusing to a tale of people using people. Kristofferson was just getting into movies, and his bad-boy image worked far better a few years later when he starred in A Star is Born (1976) opposite Barbara Streisand.

Paul Mazursky has had a long career as an actor mainly, but also as a director and writer, and is till working today. He was a co-writer (with Larry Tucker) on I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!, hence probably why that same free-love essence appeared in Blume in Love. Mazursky and Tucker also wrote Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, another film like Blume in Love about mixed up fidelities and couples in therapy. Mazursky did receive four Oscar nominations for shared writing on Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969), Harry and Tonto (1974) and Enemies: A Love Story (1989) and his own nomination for An Unmarried Woman (1989).

Blume in Love may appeal to George Segal fans, but few others.

Director: Paul Mazursky

Writers: Paul Mazursky

Run Time: 116 minutes

Rating: "R" - okay for 17 and older, but this will bore anyone under 40.

Classic Movie Guide Rating: 2 our of 5 stars

Cast: George Segal, Susan Anspach, Kris Kristofferson, Marsha Mason, Shelley Winters

Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures

Format: Color, widescreen  

Photo credits: Warner Bros. Pictures