Dumbie Jamboree

Couples, Retreat (2009)

Starring: Vincent Schiavelli, Steve Landesberg Directed by: Peter Bergomon Rating: R Genre: Foreign Other

Friday Night Special - Friday Night Special is a special feature of Oswald's Screen Scene. Here we present reviews of movies that we feel may be of particular interest to those special lovers looking for that magical mood-setter of a date flick that just might ignite the passions bubbling under the surface during the last work day of the week. Is this "The One"? Or just "One of Those Things?" Let us be your guide! Review First-time director Bergomon boldly goes where only Master Woodrow Allen has dared to tread with a remake of Der Bingle's "Scenes From A Bad, Bad Marriage". Vincent Schiavelli ("Amadeus", "One Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest") and Steve Landesberg ("Trog") play two middle-aged men married to much younger women who are confronted with the travesty of their situation when, after a shared plate of bad scallops, they suddenly see themselves through the women's eyes. Painful, painful stuff presented without a flicker of sympathy as the two fat, fishbelly-white slugs are dissected like the dude in Mr. Tulp's Anatomy class. The experience was like waking up one day to find that everyone in the world is looking at you the way your mother-in-law does. I confess at times I had to turn away just to get my composure again, and by the end I was weeping like a trout. I don't know whether to thank Bergomon or curse him, but I'll never forget it. Take a divorce lawyer along with your loved one. It'll be like catnip.