Love Story (1970)

"Love means shutting the fuck up" [paraphrased]

Oliver and Jenny are young attractive people who, despite being complete opposites (he's a Harvard preppie jock, she's a blue collar musician), fall madly in love. Although you wouldn't know it, since they never stop bickering. Due to their different backgrounds, they have to make concessions with each other, including going against the wishes of those around them. Unfortunately, their idyllic romance doesn't last for long before tragedy strikes. It's a corny movie (even at the time of its release), but I admire it because it's sincere and I'm a sentimentalist at heart. It may be weepy and saccharine, but there's a reason why it's endured for over 50 years. Being cynical all the time is exhausting.

The theme by Francis Lai is a classic. It's on the pantheon of great romantic scores next to Romeo & Juliet (1968), Summer of '42 and Somewhere in Time.

4 undisclosed conditions out of 5

The Lonely Guy (1984)

After discovering his girlfriend in bed with another man, Larry Hubbard is downgraded to lonely guy. He befriends fellow lonely guy Warren, who gives him tips like buying a fern for company, getting a dog to meet women and not to nap more than once a day to avoid the shock of remembering who you are.

The initial premise of this film is ingenious, and it's worth it for all the setups that feel all-too-familiar. After that, it settles into a bit of a conventional plot which drags the rest of the movie down, but it's full of so many moments of sheer brilliance and depressing truths, I can't award it anything less than:

3½ cries in the night out of 5

See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989)

A blind man and a deaf man are both present at the scene of the same crime, with each man witnessing it in their own unique, limited way. It’ll take both of them working together to do anything about it.
The plot is terrible and I'm still not sure if Spacey was trying to be awful or just turned out to be, but Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor make a perfect bumbling double act with a real warmth between them. I find them hilarious, Pryor especially. Some people may take the opinion that the jokes are inappropriate or offensive, but don't ignore the fact that the two men are laughing at and with both sides of the equation.

3½ phoney accents out of 5