What do you end up with when you combine a Neil Simon script and two superstar leads (James Caan and Marsha Mason)? You should end up with a dynamite movie, but instead "Chapter Two" has almost no plot and listless direction. That it was a smashing financial success is attributable only to its stars.
George Schneider (Caan) is a newly widowed man whose brother Leo (Joseph Bologna) sets him up with a newly divorced Jennie McLain (Marsha Mason). George and Jennie "meet cute", fall in love, quickly get married, then George starts missing his late wife. They almost break up, but reconcile in the end. That's it.
Caan doesn't seem that interested in his role, Mason appears to want a better script, and the direction is pretty lame. Caan was on the downside of his 1970s superstar peak and has admitted that he took the role only for the money. Mason was a recent Academy Award winner, but she and Caan fail to generate much spark due to the pedestrian script, especially since Caan mumbles his way through most of his dialogue, as usual. Valerie Harper and especially Bologna add about the only zip to the movie as George's brother and Jennie's best friend. "Chapter Two" is pleasant, but in the end it really seems empty and pointless.
George Schneider (Caan) is a newly widowed man whose brother Leo (Joseph Bologna) sets him up with a newly divorced Jennie McLain (Marsha Mason). George and Jennie "meet cute", fall in love, quickly get married, then George starts missing his late wife. They almost break up, but reconcile in the end. That's it.
Caan doesn't seem that interested in his role, Mason appears to want a better script, and the direction is pretty lame. Caan was on the downside of his 1970s superstar peak and has admitted that he took the role only for the money. Mason was a recent Academy Award winner, but she and Caan fail to generate much spark due to the pedestrian script, especially since Caan mumbles his way through most of his dialogue, as usual. Valerie Harper and especially Bologna add about the only zip to the movie as George's brother and Jennie's best friend. "Chapter Two" is pleasant, but in the end it really seems empty and pointless.