Review of Lovesick (1983) by Vytas J. S — 30 Dec 2012

Written and directed by Marshall Brickman (who worked with Woody Allen on the scripts for Sleeper, Annie Hall and Manhattan), this is an amusing and warmly funny romantic comedy. It also has a good cast, and Brickman does well with the romance and the comedy, and it's something that could have been weaved from Brickman's former writing partner.

Psychologist Saul Benjamin (Dudley Moore) is asked to take on a patient as a favour to a late friend, the patient is Chloe Allen (Elizabeth McGovern) and after their first session, Saul falls hopelessly in love with Chloe.

But, Chloe is already in a relationship with arrogant Broadway actor Ted Caruso (Ron Silver), but Saul's wife Katie (Anne Kerry) is having an affair with artist Jac Applezweig (Larry Rivers). But as Saul wants to be with Chloe, Saul is frequently visited by the ghost of Sigmund Freud (Alec Guinness), who appears to heed warnings about the dangers of a doctor having a relationship with a patient, and Saul's obsession with Chloe means he's abandoning his patients, and it throws his life into disarray, and he has to choose between love or helping the sick.

It's a gentle romantic comedy, not all of the jokes work, but when they do they're funny. Moore and McGovern make good romantic leads, while Guinness is endearing and funny as Freud, and there's good support from John Huston, Christine Baranski, David Strathairn and Wallace Shawn.