I bought this on DVD for my brother who is a big Michelle Pfeiffer fan. I decided to watch it myself earlier this week.It is a reasonably entertaining piece containing two completely separate story lines. The section with Michelle Pfeiffer was by far the more interesting of the two. She plays a rising Hollywood actress who has had many short unfulfilling relationships. She literally bumps into Brian Kerwin (A regular married guy with Kids)after driving her car into the back of his. After being initially hostile to one another he offers to drive her home as she no longer feels comfortable to drive. Romance develops eventually leading to tragedy when his wife finds out. What happens at the end I was not prepared for but the slow pacing and routine TV direction takes any drama out of the plot.The other section involves an old Studio boss played by Darren McGavin. This section actually has the better cast with Kenneth McMillan, Lois Chiles, Steven Bauer & Stella Stevens. They all want something from the studio boss but in the end when he is asked to resign, they all realize their careers will now be going nowhere. It passes the time but is not all that interesting and I am glad this was not bought for me. I am not a Michelle Pffeifer fan but she was admittedly the only actor worth watching in this film and even in 1983 she was a decent actress. Overall though unless you are a fan of hers avoid this as it is very routine.

While it has a a very good cast (Michelle Pfeiffer and Hector Elizondo, especially), it just doesn't seem to go anywhere. The center is the young actress who is jealous of her high school friends who are married. She never had that chance. She finds herself in a doomed relationship, but is at the beck and call of the studio. There is a lot of driving around in some pretty fancy classic cars. There is some interesting inside cinema from the period. The story is an old one and doesn't offer much that is new. There is a great deal of pain inflicted. The subplot is a group of vulturous has beens who are trying to recoup their careers through the big producer (Darren McGavin). A fly hits the ointment. Unfortunately, it's a big fly and it pretty much decimates this subplot. Without ruining anything, everything is heading for a tragedy. Pfeiffer's acting is very good. She was certainly heading for stardom. But low budget and empty script can only combine to detract from performance. Not a very substantial effort.

There is a substantial list of reasons why this is not a particularly good movie, but not much point in going into them. That being said, there are some very good reasons to watch it, and it's not a bad movie either. Be prepared to tolerate some annoying lighting (which, though, is sometimes quite good) and plot twists, and some slow spots, and you might just enjoy much about it.For one, the performances are just about all good to very good, usually, and I think in this case, a sign of good directing. Michelle Pfeiffer is huge fun to watch in one of her relatively early roles, several orders of magnitude better than in Scarface, made about the same time. That wonderful quality of hers of showing us her thoughts moment to moment through subtle shifts of expression is on full display here. Her character here is talented and complex, and that and the situations that arise give her plenty of opportunity to show it. Hector Elizondo and Darren McGaven (not listed above, but definitely a major character) also give good, nicely nuanced performances, and so do several minor characters.Another appealing plus is that there's real chemistry between and among the performers. Pfeiffer's love scenes with a chemist she meets due to a fender bender (I've forgotten his name, sorry) are staged and charged with a subtle energy that most movie love scenes, for all their frenetic movement and heavy breathing, don't even hint at. Her interactions with her director on the set and with Elizondo also seem quietly real, the depth (or lack thereof) of their friendships evident in the mundane daily interactions all of us know. I can think of ten or twelve very nice moments, some among minor characters, that are wonderfully realized, and a reminder that any movie can be made with insight and humane intelligence: yes, these are insignificant and often misguided individuals, but they are human beings, too, and aren't they, the movie asks, interesting to watch? The script is problematic mostly because it's in service to the uneven plot, but much of the dialogue is realistic, with people having real conversations, rather than spouting epigrams and staring meaningfully at each other. And it's often clever, as well.So, yes, this is indeed a small and very minor movie, and yes, everybody involved had to know it. And yes, the plot has some serious deficiencies, particularly a completely unexpected and unsatisfying ending, and the principles knew that, too. But they went about their business as professionals, and shrewd, talented, and intelligent professionals at that. I was annoyed at the ending, but enjoyed the movie considerably more than the average Hollywood dreck.

I wouldn't give this movie a rating, it's not worthy. I watched it only because I'm a Pfieffer fan. I love her and would watch anything she made. Even in this dud, she didn't disappoint. Every scene with her in it, kept the viewer watching...waiting...for something to happen but nothing ever did. It had some good story lines but they ended abruptly as soon as it started. Some of the other characters had potential but nothing became of it.Pfieffer was 29 when she made this film and at her most lovely. The wardrobe and set was surprisingly good. I can watch mostly anything and rarely come across a movie I can't find something to like about it, but this was a dud. I don't understand. The worst thing about it all, it had a big cliff hanger at the end. It had an ending scene that woke you up and say wow, this film is finally going some place, then the credits roll. Good grief. I agree with the review that said .99 would have bought 3 cans of cat food and watching my cat eat would have been more exciting. Well said. Actually, that comment was more entertaining than the film because it sums it up so well. I too wasted .99 cents on this dud.dud.dud.