Product Description

A hilarious look at the trials and tribulations of modern-day marriage and friendship. Special features: cast and crew filmographies: original theatrical trailer: english subtitles and closed captions and dvd-rom link to theatrical web site. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 02/03/2004 Starring: Andie Macdowell Nastassja Kinski Run time: 104 minutes Rating: R

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49297 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-10-16
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 105 minutes

Amazon.com
Released two years later than originally scheduled, Town & Country was plagued by the kind of negative buzz that few movies recover from. Like the infamous Ishtar, this Warren Beatty-led ensemble comedy is ungainly and erratic, but when it's funny it's quite funny, and the involvement of cowriter Buck Henry makes it a lot smarter than most of what passes for wit in postmillennial comedy. An updated sex farce fueled by modern-day foibles, the movie's also an apologetic valentine from notorious womanizers like Beatty, who, as wealthy Manhattan architect Porter Stoddard, is paying the price for his dalliance with a sexy cellist (Nastassja Kinski). While Porter's wife (Diane Keaton) fumes with suspicion, their best friends Mona (Goldie Hawn) and Griffin (Garry Shandling) wage their own marital warfare after Mona spies Griffin with a gorgeous redhead. Mona shouldn't believe what she sees, but she still has cause to worry.

Porter also has a fling with a ski-bunny psycho (Andie MacDowell) with an obsessively protective father (Charlton Heston), and a store clerk (Jenna Elfman) with a thing for Russian literature. It all leads to comedic acts of contrition, but too many gags are strained or flat; lacking knowledge of its troubled history, you'd still think Town & Country was a puzzle with missing pieces. And yet, these veteran stars somehow pull it together just enough to make it work, and with the stammering Shandling as a standout, the movie boasts a few noteworthy highlights. Heston's a riot (believe it or not), and although Town & Country doesn't fire on all pistons, it's got enough horsepower to suggest it could've been a contender. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

One of the worst. movies we've ever tried to watch
This was one of the worst movies my husband and I ever tried to watch. We finally gave up and I threw our DVD away. We were looking forward to watching it because of the cast, but that just proves that you need more than very good actores to make a good movie. Nothing seemed funny to us; I find it strange that it got better reviews than "My Fellow Americans" and "Her Alibi." We enjoyed the first one and thought the second one was cute, but they got trounced. Which might also prove that you have to be an outspoken liberal to get a good review in Hollywood?

RE: Waste of Time.
Unfortunately Town & Country was a total waste of time and good talent. Everything about this movie was painfully bad, from the writing to the directing to the uninspired acting of a tremendously talented cast. The movie just never took off and lacked any spark of intelligence or energy. Do not waste your time or money.

All Star Cast Couldn't Save the Script, and Naturally
"Inconsistent" is the keyword of "Town and Country." I mean, the keyword of how to explain the failure of the film. Maybe I'm mistaken, but when I watched it in theater in Japan, the touch of photography slightly changes in the last 30 minutes. At first, the colors and the light of the film are soft, but near the ending they get suddenly sharper and things look more distinct. And maybe I'm mistaken again, but the opening credit has it "Joshua Hartnett" while in the ending credit "Josh Hartnett," the way he is usually known now.

What I want to say is, as you know, "Town and Country" has experienced several re-writes because of negative response from the viewers at the screen test. But to re-write or re-shoot a film is not unusual these days -- "Fatal Attration" is one good example -- but in this case, the bad reaction from the audience could have been predicted with ease. Check out the story. The hero, who suddenly turns a philanderer when his should be well mature, is played by none other than Warren Beatty (come on!); he has an affiar with a beautiful cellist (sexy Nastassja Kinski) and his friend's wife (ever gorgeous Goldie Hawn); and then, he goes on to have another one (apparently) with Andie MacDowell and Jenna Elfman. He regrets (why not?) and goes back to his wife Diane Keaton, and asks to be forgiven, and ... she forgives!! Okay, this is an ultimate fantasy for men, I understand, but no one, male or female, buys that idea. So, Buck Henry was called as script-doctor, but even his talent could do nothing. As a result, sometimes the film looks like a romance; sometimes a farce (and not a bad one when Gary Shandling is allowed to do his stuff): sometimes very serious and ... forget it. By now, you got my point. The film is always apologetic for what it is based on. Whoever gave this impossible script a green light?

At the climax ceremony scene, many co-stars hurriedly show up one by one -- Elfman, MacDowell, Kinski, and Heston -- but so hurriedly go away that this final showdown, which could be used as a good slapstick farce, vanishes without a trace. It is as if they got other commitments. Maybe they did. It looks as if they are running away, and if so, it's a wise decision.