She wants to die young and neat, not old and sloppy. T. R. ( which stands for T. R.) is a rather brash young woman from Ohio who shows up in the windy city and has an aggressive attitude that either makes friends or turns people away. Even the way that she informed her parents that she was moving (by telegram) indicates a coldness no matter similar it is to how Mary Ann Singleton in "Tales of the City" told her parents that she was in San Francisco, and had left Cleveland.
But T. R. and Mary Ann have nothing in common, and when she gets a job at an accounting firm, the viewer gets on a nostalgic look at early 70's corporate America, from the phony sounding welcomes to the red tape of the personnel department. Individual details are certainly more interesting than the brash character that Candace Bergen plays, and when she does show some softness (particularly with lover Peter Boyle), you have to wonder how long it is before she turns on him.
It's certainly a comic visual to see Frank from "Everybody Loves Raymond" having bedroom talk with Murphy Brown. Earlier she laughed hysterically at him (and not in a believable way) when they tried unsuccessfully to make love. It's cruel little moments like this that makes her difficult to find empathy with when things go wrong. Much more interesting are the physical details making you feel that you're back in the groovy days of a highly challenging world. James Caan as the pickup who mistakes her for a working girl doesn't show the power yet to come, rather empty in impact. Director Herbert Ross was striving too hard for art here and comes up short on a story of empathy and the strength and weaknesses of human relationships.
But T. R. and Mary Ann have nothing in common, and when she gets a job at an accounting firm, the viewer gets on a nostalgic look at early 70's corporate America, from the phony sounding welcomes to the red tape of the personnel department. Individual details are certainly more interesting than the brash character that Candace Bergen plays, and when she does show some softness (particularly with lover Peter Boyle), you have to wonder how long it is before she turns on him.
It's certainly a comic visual to see Frank from "Everybody Loves Raymond" having bedroom talk with Murphy Brown. Earlier she laughed hysterically at him (and not in a believable way) when they tried unsuccessfully to make love. It's cruel little moments like this that makes her difficult to find empathy with when things go wrong. Much more interesting are the physical details making you feel that you're back in the groovy days of a highly challenging world. James Caan as the pickup who mistakes her for a working girl doesn't show the power yet to come, rather empty in impact. Director Herbert Ross was striving too hard for art here and comes up short on a story of empathy and the strength and weaknesses of human relationships.