Post by StevePulaski on Jan 4, 2017 11:12:27 GMT -5
Continental Divide (1981)
Directed by: Michael Apted
Directed by: Michael Apted
Blair Brown and John Belushi.
Rating: ★★
Continental Divide should've been a very different film in many regards. For one, it should've been a turning point for actor John Belushi. A comic titan of the 1970s and 1980s and one of Saturday Night Live's greatest actors, Belushi's segway from known funnyman to competent drama actor would've been solidified if Continental Divide matched even half of the level of conviction he's brought to so many of his roles. It was also said to be the film Belushi used as a stepping-stone to sobriety, and what a perfect screenplay to use to try and compound his efforts - a film about a chainsmoking journalist forced to take time off where he forgoes his vices and spends time in the company of a loving, caring woman.
The problem is Continental Divide is just not that film, not a great showcase for Belushi other than showing his talents at slumming in a dead-on-arrival romantic drama, which turned out to be a sizable box office bomb that didn't mean much for Belushi in a career sense. His death barely six months following the release of the film also set in stone that any ambitions Belushi had to become a serious actor were gone with the wind in the same way that Chris Farley's aspirations would be in the following decade.
What could've been a vehicle to show Belushi's versatility and strengths as an actor, in the same way Robin Williams and Jim Carrey have both done, Continental Divide is too vacuous and straight-forward to challenge Belushi in conveying any kind of ambiguity or depth into a rather shapeless picture.
Belushi plays Ernie Souchak, a renowned Chicago Sun-Times reporter who has been investigating corrupt city officials for years. He lands himself in hot water, however, after a story he does on shady dealings between councilmen leads to him being assaulted by police officers working in the pocket of the officials. His editor demands he take time off and go out of town for his own safety until things blow over, which has Ernie reluctantly heading to the Rocky Mountains to conduct an interview with Dr. Nell Porter (Blair Brown). Dr. Porter has been researching bald eagles for the better part of a decade, and the comedown from covering inner-city corruption to a simple birder, as he sees it, is almost too much to bear.
The two are an odd couple at first, with Ernie's stubborn attitude and general ineptitude with the outdoors coming into play almost instantly, leading Dr. Porter to have to help guide him for the first few days, especially as he dwindles down to his final cigarettes. But as time passes, Ernie admires her dedication and passion for her work, which leads the two to become involved with one another while Ernie's job and journalism career remains in jeopardy being that his vacation isn't permanent.
Continental Divide could've - and probably should've - been a film that deals with the perils of a workaholic romance, the one trait that both of these oddballs do share with one another. Both are committed and passionate about their field, but for whatever reason, director Michael Apted (who would go on to direct Jennifer Lopez in Enough, the pulpiest thriller you'll ever see in the modern day) and writer Lawrence Kasdan (the co-writer of both the latter two installments of the original Star Wars trilogy) decide it's better simply to profile the eccentricities of these characters and mar them in a wayward romantic comedy.
The two talk, they cuddle, they bond, they aimlessly navigate the Continental Divide, he has trouble balancing or coping with any terrain, she gets tired of his quirks and imperative nature, and thus the relationship persists on in a ridiculous and contrived manner. Belushi is bland here, as he's given nothing notable to do, and the pairing of him and Blair Brown is comically and dramatically muted for reasons I still can't decipher; there's a chemistry that doesn't seem to be lacking but does indeed seem to be commendably stunted.
Right down to living up to the two components of its genre - romantic comedy - Continental Divide either underwhelms or significantly fails in trying to establish what it set out to do. You have some wonderful performances intermixed with some very lame romantic conventions that, worse than cliche, seem uninspired in the way they have been incorporated into the story. If there had been anybody with a historically strong record to rebound film plots or narratives that seem either overwrought or overdone, it would be Belushi, but even his attempts to overcome here are squandered so badly.
Starring: John Belushi and Blair Brown. Directed by: Michael Apted.