I was watching the Kennedy Center Honors tribute to Rita Moreno, which included some short moments of her film work. I kept wondering if they'd show anything of The Four Seasons, which, while not something she's hugely remembered for, offered her a meaty role late in her film career, and is one of the first times I had ever seen her, as I hadn't ever watched West Side Story or most of her TV work. There was no mention, and indeed, I rarely hear of the film at all these days. I did see a sneering review of the film on a blog that, among other things, seemed astonished that the movie had ever been made as it was so poor, and seemed to believe that Bess Armstrong only appears in the first third. It was that review which compelled me to write this one.The Four Seasons is one of those films I never watch too often, as the characters and dialogue start to get on your nerves with how self- analytical and overly quippy they are, but this actually shows how ahead of its time the film was - if you add in some dramatic walking, or supernatural special effects, you have your average Aaron Sorkin or Joss Whedon script. What works for the film is the chemistry of the cast. You genuinely believe the characters have been close for a long time, and you can understand why the women resent Ginny, Anne's "replacement" in the group, and in Nick's life. Yet because the movie is also honest about the flaws of the characters, you're also invited to see the women's resentment, and the patronizing attitude of the men, as unfair. As time passes things start to feel a little too much (too much hectoring from Carol Burnett's Kate, a bit too much clowning from Jack Weston's Danny, a few too many measuring contests between Nick and Alan Alda's Jack), but it still ends on a satisfactory note, an ode to friendship along with a reminder of just how casually discarded friendship can be.Even though I haven't seen this in years, many parts still stick in my mind - the classical music for the soundtrack, the gorgeous cinematography (the overhead shots of the sailboat in the summer sequence in particular), the cramped car ride and sharp turns, Nick's depressed daughter talking about how the women at her college urinate off the balconies, Carol Burnett's speech at the end about friendship and losing touch.My favorite part of the film is Sandy Dennis' brief turn as Anne, Nick's first wife, the one discarded from his life, and then from people she saw as her friends. It's a touching performance, one that nicks at you long after she leaves the screen. Her final scene, running into her old friends, reminding them of their abandonment of her, and then moving on, is in many ways the natural conclusion of the film, and ends with such a classic line - "Maybe I'll get a goddam boa constrictor." You can't argue with that.

Another reviewer mentioned how this movie has changed for them since they first saw it - and not in a good way.For me, "The Four Seasons" has only become more relevant.I'm watching this on Encore as I write this. When I first saw this back in 1981, I was 16 and getting ready to entire my senior year in HS. I absolutely fell in love with this film but my perspective as a teenager had me seeing these people as my parents generation and wondering if when I reached their age I would have this kind of relationship with my adult friends. I also wondered if such people really existed. I laughed at the situations and the lines but without any real world experience.Now 30 years later, I have a very different perspective on things. I not only see myself (or aspects of myself) in each of the various characters, I find that the dialogue and relationships as presented in the film ring very true. When you are friends with other people for a long time, you do know each other well enough to be able to criticize, annoy, care about, and cherish one another the way these people do.I have also run into and had to deal with people that are essentially carbon copies of the people portrayed in the movie. I know Jack and Kate, Danny and Claudia, Nick, Ginny, and especially Anne. These people are real - not just characters written into a screenplay. They live in my town. Their fears, dreams, and neuroses are all familiar.Alan Alda was able to capture authentic portrayals of people by an outstanding cast. And while all movies are a distillation of sorts of character types, the individuals in this film seem particularly authentic to me.30 years later, I find this still to be a terrific movie. It is timeless in its message, and the emotions (humor, sympathy, anger) I experience come from a genuine understanding of and kinship with these people and their situations.

"The Four Seasons" is a wonderful character study about friendship, marriage,and being middle aged. Shamefully, they don't make movies like this anymore. I was able to identify completely with the characters, their marriages, and their friendships. It made me see that my husband and I aren't the only married couple in the world who can disagree but still have a deep love and appreciation for each other. I would not recommend this movie for anyone under the age of 30. One has a more developed appreciation for this screenplay if you are older and more experienced at life. However, I would highly recommend this film to anyone over 30. It is delightful!

Three couples--best friends--are seen on four trips together during the course of a year. Writer-director-star Alan Alda shows a surprisingly stylish eye for the beauty of the changing seasons, and as a writer he knows how to shake off the melodramatic doldrums and be funny, but his sense of style and pacing isn't helped by his need to be educational, to teach us all something about ourselves (this movie hints that maybe he's been in therapy too long). The film isn't whiny, but it has shapeless scenes that are overdrawn--and the longer they go, the more rambling they become. One couple separates and the man brings a new woman into the fold, but his ex-wife (the wonderful Sandy Dennis) is much more interesting and sympathetic than who we're left with. Two college-age daughters are introduced (played by Alda's real-life children), but they don't seem to be familiar with anyone at the table. The final act allows Alda's repressed character to finally react and blow off some steam, yet the responses he elicits (particularly from his wife, Carol Burnett) aren't believable--the characters all sound and act too much like each other for there to be nuances in their reactions. Burnett is tough to get a grip on here, and I don't know if it's the writing or just the tack she's taken here as an actress, but her rigid/passive/supporting-but-unhappy wifey doesn't showcase any particular feeling; Bess Armstrong, as the new friend, doesn't get a good strong scene until almost the end, and that's because Alda enjoys poking fun at her youthful idealism (even at the end, Armstrong is stuck with dippy dialogue like, "I'm going to take a run in the snow!"). The picture was a big hit, and it may spark conversations about friendships and our need to be around what is familiar--even if it nags at us--but Alda doesn't allow for solutions. He wants to create a mess, analyze the mess, and then throw up his hands and say "that's the way life is!" But this reality of his is plastic-coated, with TV-ready dialogue, and while he's an amiable filmmaker, he's never a self-satisfied one. **1/2 from ****