Neil Simon's bittersweet comedy, adapted from the Broadway hit, follows four separate stories of guests who've just checked into the swank Beverly Hills Hotel over the weekend of... more
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Angeles' famous Sunset Strip, Le Montrose Suite Hotel in West Hollywood California is beautifully detailed with warm, urban appeal, sleek sophistication and an...
Neil Simon's bittersweet comedy, adapted from the Broadway hit, follows four separate stories of guests who've just checked into the swank Beverly Hills Hotel over the weekend of the Academy Awards gala. The four-part story line runs the gamut from touching introspection to outright slapstick. Bill and Hannah Warren (Alan Alda and Jane Fonda) are an angry divorced duo engaged in a nasty custody battle over their daughter. Marvin Michaels (Walter Matthau) is in town a day before his devoted wife (Elaine May) for his nephew's bar mitzvah when his brother sends him a present that is difficult to hide--a hooker. Diana Barrie (Maggie Smith) is an Oscar-nominated British actress in town for the Academy Awards with her husband, Sydney (Michael Caine), who happens to be gay. Competing doctors Willis Panama (Bill Cosby) and Chauncey Gump (Richard Pryor) have been busy containing calamities befalling them since they arrived and discovered they had to share a hotel room with their crestfallen wives. CALIFORNIA SUITE, in the capable hands of director Herbert Ross, is a simultaneously poignant and hilarious vision of everyday people struggling to survive. (Smith, interestingly enough, won an Oscar for her role in the film.)
Technical information
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 Wide Screen
Sound: Mono
Dubbing Sound: Mono English French German Italian Spanish
Award information
OSCAR: Best Actress In A Supporting Role 1979 (Maggie Smith)
Professional reviews
Review: "...Simon in top form....The writer and the director have assembled a dream cast..." (New York Times, p.C12, 22/12/1978)
Included in the New York Times's "10 BEST FILMS OF 1978" (New York Times, p.II:1, 31/12/1978)
"...Fonda demonstrates yet another aspect of her amazing range, making her one of the most dynamic feminine screen stars in decades..." (Variety, 13/12/1978)
Advantages: Great all round Disadvantages: none really
...Kalifornia is a great film, with a strong cast, David Duchovny, Brad Pitt, Juliet Lewis. It is a bit like a road movie with David Duchovny's character writting a book about serial killers, and his girlfriend taking the pictures. They intend to travel across the country to California, and decide to take 2 passengers to help finance the trip, and share the driving. The passengers are Earl (played by Pitt) and his girlfriend played by Lewis. Only the thing is Earl just happens to be a bit of a serial killer himself!
It's a great movie, with some stunning performances. The story is great and keeps you interested throughout. I'd recommend this to anyone....
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
Advantages: Cast, Acting and plot Disadvantages: none
...Outbreak is a superb movie. It has an all star cast of Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman, Cuba Gooding Jr, Kevin Spacey and Donald Sutherland. They all act very well and manage to bring the plot to life. The plot itself involves a monkey causing a disease to infect Cedar Creek, California. This means the town is quarantined and its a race against time to find a cure before the government blown the town up. This makes way for some tense confrontations between medical researchers and the military and there is even a sprinkle of action. It has great special effects to bring the diseases symptoms to life and although horrible it looks very realistic. All in all it is a unique film that is wonderfully entertaining and I highly recommend it....
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
helpful 29.12.2000
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