Review of Bobby Deerfield (1977) by Nik B — 27 Oct 2009

How to see Europe on a $2 video rental. Sydney Pollack's driection in this young-Pacino drama has its moments. Although, I think I would be hard pressed to find ANYone with a camera in France & Italy and not make it look beautiful. But the scenery is fantastic.

An American race car driver sees a wreck where a friend dies and he gets a little worried about death. Visiting his friend in the hospital, he meets another woman who tags along for the ride. She was a patient, but we don't know why. She's fucking nuts, that's for sure. There were romantic moments, but they were weak and they didn't amount to anything.

At some point, she says to him, "I'm sorry you didn't scream with me. I'm sorry you didn't chase the balloon. I hope you find your rabbits." This is metaphor that alludes to previous scenes, which basically means: "I'm sorry that you're not more expressive, that you don't take more chances. I hope you find what you are afraid of." This is the kind of writing that permeates this film.

I don't know when the cliche started, but it's here. Lillian is overly expressive, artistic and outgoing. Bobbby is reserved, safe and sane and is somehow drawn to Miss Crazypants. At some point he even takes her to task, screams at her for her seeming indifference, and its just hollow. You can't get mad at her when she's acting in the way that you were intrigued by all along.

After that, it all just falls into scenes of romantic growth leading to the melodramatic ending.