Any movie is going to have problems recovering from an opening scene in which a (faintly obnoxious) nine-year-old child (Drew Barrymore) tells the judge: 'I wanna divorce my parents'. There are times, though, when this attempted screwball romantic drama gives it a fair go, thanks mainly to the efforts of Shelley Long as one half of the warring couple. The plot is full of nostalgia for older (and, alas, better) movies, within whose framework such a story might once have worked if our emotions had been engaged. But we aren't meant to take this one seriously, are we, especially with embryo film director Ryan O'Neal (as Long's other half) making a musical version of Gone With the Wind that goes over the top in every respect and must have been too horrendous in the first place to even contemplate? But the final courtroom tear-jerk, to say nothing of the slanging-match interludes, suggests that maybe this look at the spoilt rich who deserve a second chance represents the world at large and that we should coo in sympathy. Not in this day and age. Sharon Stone has a supporting role.

©ipc tx. Film content from TVTimes