The Favor (1999, VHS)

Kathy and Emily are best friends from high school. They are coming up on their 15th year high school reunion. Kathy has the perfect marriage, but his haunted by the memory of her passionate first love. Emily is having an affair with a sexy younger, but emotionally immature, artist. This may sound like the formula for an intriguing romantic comedy, and for the first 90 minutes it works pretty well. However, The Favor takes a strange turn in last half hour, that reduces it to a toned down version of the I Love Lucy show.

The film opens with Kathy's (Harley Jane Kozak) daydream of an intimate, but chaste encounter outside the football locker room with her high school sweetheart, Tom. (Ken Wahl)
Kathy is now happily married to a boring, but loving husband Peter, (Bill Pullman) an obtuse college Professor. She spends much of her time fantasizing about what it would be like to fulfill her romantic desires with Tom.

Emily (Elizabeth Mc Govern) runs an art gallery and has an on again, off again fling with Elliot. (Brad Pit) The couple are like ships passing in the night except in bed. Emily does not want to give up her independence, and Elliot is content with a series of one night stands.

The plot thickens when Emily, after breaking up with Elliot, plans a business to trip to Denver, where Tom runs a sporting goods store. Kathy, who wishes to get Tom out of her system, thinking that he has probably now succumbed to obesity and baldness, convinces Emily to sleep with him and report back on the rendezvous. The problem arises when Emily returns from Denver to report that Tom is everything Kathy fantasized about, a handsome, sensitive hunk, and terrific lover. The green eyed monster now threatens to come between the two friends.

Complications arise when Peter invites a romantically jaded colleague to dinner, who convinces him that Kathy is having an affair with Elliot, and Emily turns up pregnant with Elliot's (or is it Tom's ?) baby. In a rather bizarre ending all of the major characters wind up in Denver, in Tom's cabin and find out that he's actually an insensitive brute after all. In this chaotic setting, the characters are finally able to sort out all of the confusion and misunderstandings and tie up all of the loose ends of their relationships.

The Favor starts out with the makings of a charming, sophisticated, romantic comedy with great chemistry and smart dialog between the two lead actresses. About mid way through, it takes a turn toward the ridiculous when the details of the implausible plot begin to unfold. As the facade starts to crumble, there are still come excellent subtle comedic scenes in the film. One example occurs when Kathy puts on a teddy and attempts to seduce her feckless husband Peter with seductive glances, while gliding a Popsicle across her tongue, as he spouts scientific theories and makes a submarine sandwich. Another comedic scene occurs when Kathy accompanies Emily to her Lamaze class which consists of a young boy coaching his sister as a science project and a lesbian couple preparing for parenthood.

Bill Pullman delivers his usual irresistible performance as a charming eccentric, with aplomb. Although the two lead actresses, Harley Jane Kozak and Elizabeth Mc Govern have a lot of chemistry, the same cannot be said of Mc Govern and Brad Pitt, who are unconvincing as a couple, and seem a little too eager to jump out of bed after a mutually satisfying sexual encounter.

Despite it's strange ending, The Favor has a few good moments, especially those that capture Kathy and Tom in their cozy, if not idyllic, home life. It makes you wonder what all the fuss was about to begin with. While The Favor has quite a bit of charm, it lacks the depth and originality of other romantic comedies such as Return To Me and Sleepless in Seattle. The film's central message, is little more than the old adage, "be careful what you ask for. You may get it", and it's not at all what you had imagined.