Falling in Love 1984

Sometimes magic is the only thing that's real.

6.6 / 10   336 vote(s)
PG-13
Drama Romance

During shopping for Christmas, Frank and Molly run into each other. This fleeting short moment will start to change their lives, when they recognize each other months later in the train home and have a good time together. Although both are married and Frank has two little kids, they meet more and more often, their friendship becoming the most precious thing in their lives.

Release Date 1984-11-21
Runtime 1h 42m
Directors Ulu Grosbard, Peter Suschitzky
Producers Marvin Worth, Robert F. Colesberry
Writer Michael Cristofer

Considering the star power of this movie, I think the story could have been a bit stronger. I don’t mind a juicy coincidence to get a movie ignited, but this story depended upon them so much, perhaps it should have been called It Must be Fate.

Netflix categorized this as a Christmas movie, because it begins and ends a year apart during the holiday season. But in between it is a romance. Nothing against Meryl Streep’s character, but Frank (De Niro’s character) lost interest in his attractive, supportive, and funny wife and good mom to their kids in favor of an attractive, funny woman who could lead to his losing his kids. That’s true love, I guess. As for Streep’s Molly, her husband didn’t seem like a prize. But I think the story should have shown those spouses a bit more. More depth. Still, it was fine. Okay, move along, nothing more to see here.

Peter McGinn