Just the Way You Are

1984 "She turned a plaster cast into a glass slipper and found the courage to be somebody new... Herself"
Just the Way You Are
5.9| 1h34m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 16 November 1984 Released
Producted By: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Despite her success as a professional flute player and the constant attention of men around her, Susan Berlanger feels insecure because of her lame right leg. During a European tour, she decides to cover her leg with a cast to see how people will react to her as a nondisabled person.

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Reviews

qualityguyftl I have always loved this movie. Give it a shot and don't rely on the snide reviews on here. This movie is not suppose to be Schindler's List. Now over 20 years later the movie is now available on DVD, I got mine from Moviesunlimited.com. It has been remastered and is in widescreen format. This movie accomplishes just what it is suppose to, a breezy romantic comedy with an original plot. Kristy is wonderful and Michel Ontkean fresh from his groundbreaking role in "Making Love" is not only HOT but a gentle caring man in this role. Another reviewer stated that they didn't like it when McNicole was more "kid like" in the later half of the movie. Well of course is she like a child, she has been in a leg brace (due to post polio infection) and she never had a normal childhood, so of course she is going to be somewhat childlike doing things she has never done before. If you are looking for a good rainy day movie then watch "Just the Way you are" it's a good flick that leaves you feeling happy for the characters and makes you also look at how you treat others and how others treat you, without making it a 2 1/2 hour bore fest of background story and intellectual crap.
fedor8 Watchable little semi-soaper, but hardly captivating. Still, two or three funny moments. What amazes me is how slippery and morally highly questionable McNicol is. She plays an invalid (a leg problem), yet she not only isn't the "ugly duckling" whom men shun, but she is even a man-eater - and we are supposed to feel for her! Oh, poor little McNicol, with her leg problem... Poor little McNicol??! She is constantly getting passes from men, and even dumps them without so much as blinking! At one occasion she even has a premeditated one-night affair with a blond stud, and then she tells her newly-found French girlfriend quite non-chalantly that it took him time to get an erection! Makes us viewers wonder why she is so leg-conscious if every guy wants to hump her. Well, almost every guy; the only guy who really shunned her after seeing her leg wrapped up in metal is the guy working on the telephone. But otherwise she seems to be doing just fine with men! No shyness, no lack of success with men, and she throws them away like toys; the way she dumped Carradine was ridiculous. Poor little invalid girl?? I don't think so. And yet we are meant to believe that this woman has a major confidence problem; hence the scene in which she prepares to start playing the flute for a solo concert and somehow manages to throw the notes on the ground out of nervousness. Nervousness?? The rest of the movie shows little or nothing that would suggest that she has confidence problems, so this flute scene is absurd and doesn't fit into the bigger picture. I was also surprised how quickly and eagerly McNicol makes friends with a French woman who is screwing a married guy. On the surface the movie would appear to be a "sentimental story of one crippled woman's struggle for acceptance" (or something like that) but it's nothing like that at all; the writer clearly shifts between this type of movie and a "screw anything that moves - it's the 80s" kind of movie - very confusing.As far as her leg: it's not like she has a big, fat purple balloon growing on her calf muscle. She "only" has a normal-looking metal prosthetic attached to the lower part of her leg, so I really don't understand why the makers of the film try to make it seem as if she is a female Quasimodo or something, at the beginning of the film. It's not like she has a twin head growing out of her neck! Though McNicol is hardly a major catch. Kind of cutish but nothing special, quite average.But what the hell is Carradine doing playing some kind of a (relatively) smooth guy flirting with McNicol and her pal?! This guy was in "Revenge of the Nerds"! But I guess it's the same thing with the Carradines in the movies as it is with the Kennedys in politics: no matter how ugly, unable, or dumb, all the doors are open for a career in movies and politics, respectively.Down with nepotism.If you want to read bogus biographies about the Carradines, and other Hollywood nepotists and morons, contact me by e-mail.
moonspinner55 Kristy McNichol gives a good if uneven performance as a crippled flautist--working her way through a series of romantic losers here at home--who travels to a French ski-resort and gets a bright idea: she replaces her cumbersome leg-brace with a cast and finds guys wanting her sexually for the first time. Bumpy romantic comedy begins well, but is really two different pictures, with Kristy's musician going from shyly seductive girl to mercurial, exasperating kid. There are some savvy moments, but mostly in the quietly charming first hour. Once in France, where McNichol hooks up with incredibly patient photographer Michael Ontkean, the filmmakers get too silly, replacing the satiric wit with cheap, blurry sentiment and a pointless discotheque sequence that goes on...and on. **1/2 from ****
Paul Turner I enjoyed the movie's theme, and in particular the music selections in this production. In-fact, I wish I could find a VHS copy of the movie. Christie played an excellent role. The production settings were interesting and well suited to the overall theme of the movie. There should be more movies of this excellent format. Christie's part reflected the emotion and human failings that all people tend to encounter at one time or another during their lifetime. The fact that most of the other actors were relatively unknowns (for the most part), I found this helped to focus on the main theme of the movie and the lead role (Christie).