US remake of the 2005 Spanish-Argentine co-production "Elsa y Fred" casts Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer as single oldsters living next door to each other in the same New Orleans townhouse, each saddled with over-protective grown children. They share money and health concerns--as well as the proverbial cranky-cute idiosyncrasies found in most feature-length sitcoms. Director Michael Radford, who also reportedly worked on the script without credit, is a filmmaker raised on reruns: there isn't an honest situation or reaction in the entire movie. While it is wonderful to see MacLaine and Plummer together, their characters are just 'colorful' sketches (and the sentiment we're supposed to automatically feel towards them is offensive). MacLaine tries creating a goosey, unflappable woman prone to giggling and full of neighborly good cheer, but she's covered much of this territory before (such as in "Used People"). After a self-defeating first reel--utilizing shots of Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" to set the mood, followed by an unfunny fender-bender--Radford settles into mildewy romantic comedy territory, with jokes that fall like wet sponges around the actors. This movie could use a Fellini. *1/2 from ****
Review of Elsa & Fred
