He's pushed around by his dotty mother, by his alleged girlfriend Gretchen, by the screenwriter Stanley, the director Bo, and by the leading man played by Michael Caine. There isn't one time Alda's character stands up for himself and sticks to it. His scenes with Gretchen are 100 percent blab and 0 percent chemistry. At the end of the movie, after he has just learned that Gretchen had been sleeping with Michael Caine, she tells him that she's willing to marry him for eight months, "with an option for four more." Rather than telling her to get lost, he is overjoyed and hugs her.
The movie has sharp things to say about the Hollywood movie-making process. But that for me was overshadowed by my annoyance at Alda's character. Only twice in the movie does he grow a pair, but at the end of the story he is back to being a wimp again.
My girlfriend Carolyn has an opinion even harsher than I -- she rates "Sweet Liberty" even lower than _Mummy's Kiss_, a soft-porn film with Ed Woods-quality bad writing.
Score: 3 out of 10 from me; 1/10 from Carolyn.
The movie has sharp things to say about the Hollywood movie-making process. But that for me was overshadowed by my annoyance at Alda's character. Only twice in the movie does he grow a pair, but at the end of the story he is back to being a wimp again.
My girlfriend Carolyn has an opinion even harsher than I -- she rates "Sweet Liberty" even lower than _Mummy's Kiss_, a soft-porn film with Ed Woods-quality bad writing.
Score: 3 out of 10 from me; 1/10 from Carolyn.