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THE GIRL NEXT DOOR  Shelley Long and Patty Duke play duelling moms who come between romancing Al Marino and Crystal Allen. |
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Cheerful Romeo-Juliet tale
on Santa Catalina island
By RON MILLER
of TheColumnists.com
Sometimes an ordinary movie becomes something really worth seeing because of what I call "X factors." Such a film is "Falling in Love with the Girl Next Door," a new romantic comedy from cable's Hallmark Channel, which is loaded with "X" factors.
First, it's beautifully filmed on sunny Santa Catalina Island off the coast of Ventura County in Southern California, a once celebrated resort community that we seldom see on screen these days. This time it looks so inviting that I predict you'll be calling your travel agent the first Monday morning after you see the movie.
"X" No. 2: It features four well-travelled TV stars we don't get to see as often as we did before: Patty Duke, Shelley Long, Patrick Duffy and Bruce Boxleitner. In my 21 years as a syndicated TV columnist, I saw all four of them a lot, often up close and personal, so for me the movie is like attending a reunion and seeing how your old pals are holding up these days.
"X" No. 3: There's a delightful young lady named Crystal Allen playing the romantic female lead. She's "to die for" gorgeous and she has an infectious personality. I predict a big future for her. Ken Marino, who plays the male romantic lead, is fine, too, but I'm a guy and I'll confess I hardly noticed the chap anytime Crytal Allen was on the screen at the same time.
This is no world-beater in terms of plot, gags or much of anything else, but it does no harm if you fix on these "X" factors. Basically, it's the story of Theresa Connolly (Crystal Allen), a 20something young woman who comes home to Southern California after the breakup of a bad relationship in Seattle. When she visits her parents--Bridget (Patty Duke) and James (Patrick Duffy)--on Catalina, she runs into Mark Lucas (Ken Marino), the neighbor boy she knew as a youngster. Both have turned out well, so little sparks start dancing in their eyes.
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The trouble is Crystal's mom, Bridget, and Mark's mom, Betsy (Shelley Long), are obsessive-compulsive types whose own relationship, historically, is roughly that of Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield. In other words, they are ready to fight anytime a bell rings. Luckily, neither mom has bitten off the other's ear so far.
This somewhat amuses the husbands of the two moms, who like each other fine. James and Frank (Bruce Boxleitner) like sitting around drinking beers while their wives do whatever they can to avoid ever coming face to face with each other.
Ultimately, the kids decide to get married and the moms freak out. Once the husbands tame them down, the moms begin working together to over-plan the wedding and pretty well mess everything up. In short, this is "Romeo and Juliet" without any suicides.
Now I'll report on the condition of the four TV veterans:
Patty Duke, who won an Oscar at age 16 reprising her Broadway role as Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker," went on to star in the hit TV sitcom "The Patty Duke Show," won three Emmys as a dramatic actress and already has proved many times that she's capable of doing virtually anything well. Heck, she even was president of the Screen Actors Guild for awhile. Patty is small, but still trim and, though she now looks like somebody's grandma, I'd say she's hanging in there at age 59.
Shelley Long, 56, the Emmy-winning star of the original "Cheers," is a tall lady and has "filled out" some, but seems to be in pretty good shape. Unfortunately, she wears her hair tied up in back all through the movie, which gives her a severe look that isn't all that becoming. She's still a marvelous comic actor, though, and deserves bigger and better roles.
Patrick Duffy, who's also 56, is the fittest of the four. He's trim and athletic and is starting to gray-up a bit, but still looks good. I met him way back in the late 1970s when he was NBC's "Man From Atlantis," saw him a lot during his Bobby Ewing days on "Dallas" and as the dad in ABC's "Step by Step." He always seemed like a nice guy and I wish he got more work these days.
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in "Falling in Love with The Girl Next Door." He even got paid to be her co-star. Talk about a good deal! |
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Bruce Boxleitner, the youngest at 55, is also a nice guy whose career has been all over the place. I met him first in 1977 when he was riding behind James Arness in TV's "How the West Was Won." He progressed from "Bring 'Em Back Alive" (as big game trapper Frank Buck) to "Scarecrow and Mrs. King," a romantic caper comedy, to the space opera "Babylon 5," and is now doing character comedy in this movie. Bruce looks as if his belt has been let out a few notches, but he's clearly not ready for a walker quite yet.
You may view these old favorites a little differently--and that's part of the fun when you check out old favorites.
Romantic comedy doesn't happen very often on TV these days, so those who miss it should relish "Falling in Love with The Girl Next Door."
©2006 by Ron Miller.
The photos are courtesy of the Hallmark Channel. This column
first posted Jan. 30, 2006.
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