Laase Hallstrom's "Once Around" tells the tale about the Bella family, who are a tightened up Italian-American family who reside in Boston, Massachusetts. Joe (Danny Aiello) is the king of his domain who's been married for almost 35 years to his classy wife Marilyn (Gena Rowlands) and have three adult children Tony (Danton Stone), Jan (Laura San Giacomo) and Renata (Holly Hunter). Tony is already married, Jan is about to tie the knot leaving Renata anxious as to when her boyfriend Rob (Griffin Dunne) is going to propose. In a heartbreaking act, Rob confesses that he has no intentions of marrying Renata, so she moves back home to her parents. Renata quits her job as a waitress and travel to the Caribbean where she enrolls in the business of real estate specializing in selling condominiums. There she meets a hotshot real estate agent named Sam Sharpe (Richard Dreyfuss) and is immediately attractive to his high-spirited, confident and spontaneous appearance. He gladly takes her back home to Boston where he is introduced to the Bella family. The Bellas take a while to warm up to this chain-smoking, rather radiant behaving Sam, but after a while, they progressively get adjusted to his unorthodox charisma. However, Jan does not like him which causes friction between both sisters. But after a while, Jan accepts him and gives Renata her blessing. Sam eventually marries Renata and relocates his business from New York to Boston to spend more quality time with Renata and the rest of the Bella clan. At Joe's mother's funeral, Sam sings a tribute song for her, but Marilyn finds it rather disrespectful and rather tasteless and that Sam was the wedge that's tearing her family apart. But they eventually make up afterwards as Renata gives birth to a brand new baby girl. At the christening, Sam suffers a severe heart attack and is rushed to the hospital. Now wheelchair bound, Sam returns home and celebrates Christmas with the Bella clan. Renata goes skating by a frozen lake as Sam and the baby look on. While she is skating Sam dies peacefully in his sleep, with his daughter by his side. At his funeral, Renata gives a eulogy thanking Sam for changing her life for the better and in his honour, Joe leads the procession on a traffic round-about.Most people under the middle-aged demographics might find this story to be uncool and just another clichéd formulaic romantic comedy. The over 30 club might have more tolerance to it, but might refrain from using outstanding applauses which makes this movie quite forgettable. The film was dismissed of any awards and the box office ticket sales was quite low. In general this romantic comedy put in better terms is lost in the shuffle and will never be memorable. Although it is simplistic, it's not very enjoyable and the sad ending will surely turn people off. How I felt about "Once Around" is that it is a character driven film and that the interactions and the responses towards each character is quite riveting. Sam and Renata truly deserve each other and their reasons to fall for each other is what drives people to see this film. Renata loves Sam because he's fun, caring and uplifting in charm, plus he's wealthy. Sam loves Renata because she's intelligent, easy-going and care-free. Sure it takes a while for the other Bellas to get used to him because his charm can cross the line to the point of obnoxiousness and refuses to accept when enough is enough. Over the years, a myriad of romantic comedies offer men and woman who fall in love avoiding romantic interludes and just randomly fall in love. "Once Around" is different being that this couple has a legit purpose why Sam and Renata should belong together. Sam's high-strung behaviour caused his previous wife to divorce him, while Renata's ex-boyfriend refuses to marry her. The two come from different worlds. Renata has no savings or really any career driven ambitions except just to get by and her family is her only social existence and outsiders are not welcome unless they're willing to commit in marriage. There's no doubt that "Once Around" has more good qualities than bad ones. The flaws don't keep this film from being bad. It takes a while for Joe and Marilyn to feel comfortable of Sam's outspoken behaviour. The situation involving Jan's subtle affair with family friend Jim (Greg Germann) was handled oddly. Sam's over-the-top toast at Jim's wedding reception garnered no responses. And at times it felt Sam's outrageous personality was too manipulative for Renata who just seems too easily charmed by him. but these flaws shouldn't hinder your spirits. If you like low-key romantic comedies you have to check this one out.

I started watching this purely on a whim, the summary on the cover didn't give much away. The family dynamics were demonstrated with the elder daughter's wedding, dad thought he was the star and sang a song - having been to a wedding when the dad thought the guest were there for him, I cringed - and the happy couple went their way while the younger daughter discovers that the unwilling finance she thought she had was just playing at a relationship. She then fled back to her parents' home where the wedding decorations still hung, and even tried to sleep with her parents in their bed. Honestly, this family is too close for healthy! Soon she moves away and while she is learning a sales job she meets a smarmy, brash show-off whom she clicks with immediately. They become closer and she introduces him to her family. The obvious wealth of the man is something of a stumbling block to her father, who has always been The Man, but now has another fella in the house who is around his age and with pots more money. The family all decide they really like him, as he grows on us all with his generosity and genuine affection for his adopted clan, then they decide they really don't, and the years roll on. To be honest, the family are far too controlling - if this is a typical American/Italian family, it didn't do them any favours. The ending is sweet, predictable and satisfying. The characters are well drawn and the wonderful Richard Dreyfuss steals the whole film (for me). The other family members seemed a bit miserable to be frank, they needed to lighten up a bit and see the world outside.

I love roundabouts and this movie is filled with several rounds of them, Renata's father (Dany Aiello) has a special attraction with the excitement it brings to drive a car in a roundabout and takes the chance every time he's able to.I've seen this movie lots of times and I can't believe it's been 18 years since it was released. It's a fresh, funny, romantic Italian family movie and I do believe it's one of the best performances of Holly Hunter and also Richard Dreyfuss.I love when the father sings her "the glory of love" at the wedding, it's such a nice scene and also the way Renata sings "Fly me to the moon" all the time after she meets Sam.

I just saw this for the first time and I feel it means well, but the writing and the pacing miss the mark a little. I can see why many people love it, though, and I have a few movies like this in my own favorites category. "Crimes of the Heart" and "Love and Death On Long Island" for example, and the masterful "Moonstruck".The reason I'm posting is that I was living in Durham, NC when this film was made. The exterior shots of the large family home were done there, and some of the home interiors were. It was early spring in NC before too many of the trees started blooming, which allowed it to resemble a Boston winter. I guess the low-cost of the supporting help and convenience of the balmy temperatures made this change of locales worth the trouble. Just thought true fans might want to know.