Ankhoryt I love Ellen Barkin, 'deed I do, but even she cannot make the romance with Jack Nicholson believable here. Even back in 1992, Nicholson was TOO OLD to play a romantic lead with a woman seventeen years his junior.I was getting the creeps watching this in the fall of 2008, and suddenly I realized why. The pairing reminds me of John McCain and his trophy wife, Cindy. McCain: born 1936. Nicholson: born 1937. Cindy and Barkin: both born 1954.It's obnoxious, the way Hollywood continues to indulge Nicholson (and, presumably, equally elderly male producers and writers) with this assumption that an audience can believe gorgeous young women will fall all over him. Oh, spare me. And start giving actresses Nicholson's own age parts like the plums HE gets, or at least, parts playing his love interest.I like dogs, I like Ellen Barkin, and that's why I was able to endure the movie at all, though I was embarrassed for her being stuck with such a ludicrous part - and one which, in a movie meant to be funny, failed to take full advantage of her talent for comedy, especially her considerable physical comedy chops.Also loved Lauren Tom as the Nicholson's wife! Again, the age difference is severe - Tom was born in 1961, making her fully 24 years younger than Nicholson and his character - but Tom's put-on accent (she was born in Chicago) and Nicholson's overall sleaziness suggest that she's a mail-order bride struggling to make the best of a groom who calls her "Iwo Jima." Tom, like Barkin, deserves better writing than this.One star for Barkin, one star for Tom, and one star for the dog. Zero stars for the rest of it, particularly casting Nicholson and for the overly-complex plot lines.

edwagreen Bob Rafelson, who directed Jack Nicholson in "5 Easy Pieces," has the honors of directing him in this comedy, which unfortunately falls flat.Nicholson co-stars with Ellen Barkin. Beverly D'Angelo co-stars as well, but Miss D'Angelo can't get a good role since "Coal Miner's Daughter."Nicholson is Harry Bliss in this one. He is a dog-trainer with a past. Barkin and D'Angelo are sisters going through hard times. Barkin, an opera singer, is in the process of divorcing her husband and sister, D'Angelo, has a manuscript that the mob wants.When Barkin's home is robbed, she takes refuge in D'Angelo's house when the latter goes away. When threatened there, she meets Nicholson who sells her a trained dog. The film deals with how the 2 fall in love but then really goes down hill when they attempt to rescue D'Angelo, who the mob has set up in a mental hospital. In addition to this, the mob attorney, Saul Rubinek, had asked Nicholson to work for them in an attempt to get the manuscript back.The humor is thin here. Nicholson has a Japanese wife referred to as Iwo Jima. How gross!

whpratt1 If it were not for great acting skillings by Ellen Barkin and Beverly D'Angelo, this film would never have been produced, they held up the leading male actor and the dog stole the show from everyone.This had to be the worst film of 1992, no laughs for me at all.

drturbo-3 I saw this movie on a second-class channel this Sunday, and I have to say that I liked it. It's just a romantic comedy, and if you keep that in mind, you will also like it. Of course, maybe Jack Nicholson is overcasted, but it proves how capable is he of doing any kind of character, in any kind of movie. It doesn't worth buying, but I think it worth the rental fee.