Richard Dreyfuss goes on a road trip in "Coast to Coast."
April 02, 2004
Coast to Coast
By Barry Garron
Bottom line: An odd assortment of hasty cross-country visits.
Sunday, April 3, 8 -- 10 p.m. Showtime
Two gifted actors and a director with a knack for character comedy and a keen eye for human foibles still couldn't make this road movie more than an odd assortment of hasty cross-country visits, each a pit stop to load and unload emotional baggage.
Richard Dreyfuss and Judy Davis star as Barnaby and Maxine Pierce, a comfortably situated, long-married couple on the verge of splitting. Although you'd think emotions might run high and tempers might get frayed, the Pierces are taking it all in stride, as if the pending domestic breakup amounted to little more than the annoyance of a leaky faucet.
Still uncertain about their own emotions as well as their feelings for each other, the couple embarks on a trip from their posh home in Westport, Conn., to Los Angeles, where their son, Benjamin (David Julian Hirsch), is to be wed. They travel in Barnaby's vintage Thunderbird, which he intends to give to Benjamin. It's a nostalgic and sentimental premise, but for all they do with it, they might as well have gone by Greyhound.
Frederic Raphael, who adapted the script from his own novel, might have called this "Two for the Road," except that he had already used the title for one of his previous works. In any case, he demonstrates that coming up with fresh variations on the theme is no easy task. What is supposed to be a journey of self-discovery turns into a multistop trip in which, with one exception, the Pierces find out that their old friends (and former lovers) now live lives more hollow and less fulfilling than their own. The lone exception is their daughter, Stacey (Selma Blair), who has discovered happiness in the midst of an unexpected pregnancy and an interracial courtship. Make of that what you will.
Even when the stops reveal interesting characters and unusual situations, there never seems to be enough time to flesh the story out before it is time to move on. Whether it's the borderline sociopathic nephew stuck in a rural environment or Maxine's bohemian professor (Maximillian Schell playing a character out of a Philip Roth novel), no one gets more than a few minutes to shock the Pierces before they disappear into the rearview mirror. In the end, significant relationship issues are resolved mainly by default.
As you would expect, Dreyfuss and Davis wring as much from their performances as humanly possible. Paul Mazursky's direction, set to the upbeat melodies of Bill Conti, is sharp and focused and allows you to share the surprises that greet the Pierces along the way. Still, there's only so much to be done with a story that seems so endlessly rambling until it arrives at its predictable conclusion.
COAST TO COAST Showtime Chautauqua Entertainment/Jerry Leider Co.
Credits: Executive producers: Jerry Leider, Richard Waltzer Line producer: Michael Levine Director: Paul Mazursky Teleplay: Frederic Raphael Based on the novel by: Frederic Raphael Director of photography: Jean Lepine Production designer: Tamara Deverell Editor: Richard Halsey Music: Bill Conti Art director: Joshu de Cartier Set decorator: Jim Lambie Casting: Jane Jenkins, Robin D. Cook Cast: Barnaby Pierce: Richard Dreyfuss Maxine Pierce: Judy Davis Stacey Pierce: Selma Blair Gary Pereira: Saul Rubinek Clifford Wordsworth: John Salley Stanley Tarlo: Paul Mazursky Benjamin Pierce: David Julian Hirsh Hal Kessler: Fred Ward Casimir Michaelstadt: Maximillian Schell Randolph Carroway: Owen Rotharmel
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