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The opening sequence in Woody Allen 's "Husbands and Wives" is a long, unbroken shot done in documentary style. The camera swoops here and there, nervously darting around the room to watch the action as two long-married couples deal with the news that one couple has decided to get divorced. With the invention of the Steadicam, this kind of sequence can be done with a relatively smooth camera style, but that's not what Allen wants. He wants a jerky, harried camera (we imagine the cinematographer sweating as he tries to keep up with the action), a camera as confused as the characters, who keep interrupting each other and denying what they hear.

Sydney Pollack and Judy Davis play the couple who are divorcing. They are relaxed, reasonable; this is an amicable move that will allow them both to "grow" - and to "grow," in psychobabble, is of course more important than to commit, to compromise, to share, to sacrifice. The news of the divorce comes as a devastating blow to the other couple, played by Woody Allen and Mia Farrow . They thought their friends were so happy! The news is also a threat - because if this happy couple can split up, what couple is safe? For many people, the real-life troubles between Allen and Farrow were the same sort of blow. It wasn't that they had an ideal marriage (they weren't married, for one thing), but they'd built an interesting relationship that allowed each partner to work and remain independent, while somewhere in the middle was their love and the children they were raising. They seemed so . . . adult about the whole thing.

But what "Husbands and Wives" argues is that many "rational" relationships are actually not as durable as they seem, because somewhere inside every person is a child crying me! me! me! We say we want the other person to be happy. What we mean is, we want them to be happy with us, just as we are, on our terms.

Look at the scene in the movie where the Allen character runs into his old pal (Pollack) on the street, and they continue their conversation inside a convenience store. Pollack has now left his wife of many years, and is living with a sexy aerobics instructor. She has the bounce and body of a centerfold, and is into self-improvement, by which she means anything that can be learned from those magazines with full-page ads for fruit juicers. It would appear to Allen (and to the audience) that the bond between the older man and the younger woman consists primarily of sex, but as Pollack talks, his voice rapid and confidential, we get a better glimpse of his thinking. He sees this young woman as his second chance, his lost youth - what he deserves! Yes! His right to be happy! "With my wife, I always felt like I was taking an audition." The girl loves him for - we can see this coming - himself. Which is really all any of us want to be loved for.

Later, of course, the sexy aerobics instructor turns into a real person, one who delivers boring monologues about astrological signs. It is not enough that she adores the Pollack character, and has firm thighs and high breasts and clean blond hair. She must also not be stupid. This is a man who is hard to satisfy.

The thought process that goes into this relationship is at the very heart of "Husbands and Wives." And it is mirrored in the movie's other key development, as the Allen and Farrow characters also find themselves splitting up, and Allen, who plays a 50ish professor of English, finds himself attracted to his 20-year-old student ( Juliette Lewis ). She has a pattern of neurotic involvement with older men, but the Allen character is blind to it. What older man, accepted by a younger woman despite his balding grey hair, wants to know that he is attractive because of flaws, not despite them - that his lover is actually attracted to the decay of mortality? The best scenes in "Husbands and Wives" are between the characters played by Allen and Farrow. If we can judge by the subsequent events in their lives, some of this dialogue must have cut very close to the bone. They talk about trust, and being faithful, and what they're "really looking for," and they skate skittishly around the minefields of sex and lust. Both couples in the film are really asking the same question: Is this all there is? Must we abandon our fantasies of the perfect partner in order to accept the comfort and truth of our real one? In the film, the Allen character realizes that the 20-year-old is, in some way, a mirage: She will give him the vision of a romantic oasis, but will not slake his thirst. He backs away. In real life, Allen apparently did not back away, and to some degree "Husbands and Wives" is his apologia for the relationship he has entered into with Farrow's adopted daughter.

All of that will work itself out over time, and will end happily, or unhappily, as such things do. What he is saying in "Husbands and Wives" has little to do with the wisdom of any particular relationship. Beneath the urgency of all the older characters - both men, both women, and even the older dating partners they experiment with - is the realization that life is short, that time is running out, that life sells you a romantic illusion and neglects to tell you that you can't have it, because when you take any illusion and make it flesh, its hair begins to fall out, and it has B.O., and it asks you what your sign is. True love involves loving another's imperfections, which are the parts that tend to endure. Woody Allen's character discovers that in "Husbands and Wives," although perhaps not in time to help its creator.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Husbands and Wives (1992)

108 minutes

Woody Allen as Gabe Roth

Mia Farrow as Judy Roth

Sydney Pollack as Jack

Judy Davis as Sally

Written and Directed by

• Woody Allen

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Husbands and Wives

1992, Drama/Comedy, 1h 33m

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Critics Consensus

Husbands and Wives is a blistering, emotionally raw snapshot of two marriages self-destructing. Read critic reviews

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Husbands and wives   photos.

Gabe (Woody Allen) and his wife, Judy (Mia Farrow), are shocked to discover that their best friends, Sally (Judy Davis) and Jack (Sydney Pollack), are splitting up. Not only did they not see the breakup coming, but it makes them start to question their own relationship. While Gabe flirts with the idea of dating one of his college students (Juliette Lewis), Sally and Jack discover that being single again isn't all its cracked up to be and contemplate getting back together.

Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance

Original Language: English

Director: Woody Allen

Producer: Robert Greenhut

Writer: Woody Allen

Release Date (Theaters): Sep 18, 1992  wide

Release Date (Streaming): Oct 12, 2010

Box Office (Gross USA): $9.3M

Runtime: 1h 33m

Distributor: TriStar Pictures

Sound Mix: Surround

Cast & Crew

Woody Allen

Prof. Gabriel "Gabe" Roth

Juliette Lewis

Blythe Danner

Rain's Mother

Liam Neeson

Michael Gates

Sydney Pollack

Lysette Anthony

Cristi Conaway

Shawn Grainger

Timothy Jerome

Dinner Party Guest

Bruce Jay Friedman

Peter Styles

Benno Schmidt

Judy's Ex-Husband

Robert Greenhut

Screenwriter

News & Interviews for Husbands and Wives

Sebastian Stan’s Five Favorite Films

Liam Neeson’s 10 Best Movies

Sydney Pollack dies aged 73

Critic Reviews for Husbands and Wives

Audience reviews for husbands and wives.

The mockumentary set-up is rather unnecessary, and some of the relationships make and break too quickly, but the script holds nothing back. These husbands and wives sure get ugly: from Sally's darkly comedic manic episodes during a blind date to Jack orchestrating an ill-timed reunion while making his new squeeze wait in the car. What this movie is though is a tour de force showcase for the acting talents of Judy Davis and Juliette Lewis. I hesitate to call them "Woody's Women" - an endearing though patronizing moniker for his ingenues - because that implies ownership, and since this is purported to be a biographical film, Rain's criticisms of Gabe's patriarchal views of females in his book may hit close to Woody's own home. Judy Davis is shrill and brittle, but sensuously so. I've never thought much of beady-eyed Juliette Lewis, but her wise-beyond-her-years creative writing co-ed steals every scene. Rain's gratitude is never insincere, and her flirtation is subtle. The long take of her placid face in the cab as Gabe insults her for being honest about his book is so great because she just takes it. She doesn't get upset; she knows she's worth it.

Woody Allen is a highly inconsistent director. While he has created great works throughout the years such as Annie Hall and Midnight in Paris, he's almost made some I couldn't stand. And not only critically inconsistent, but for me personally. While I enjoy Anything else, this movie which is 100% on rottentomatoes, is really unmoving in my eyes. I didn't understand what was going on with the confusing narrative. Woody seems to copy Bergman in Passion of Anna, with the interview style, but he does it so much worse. And that was the hurtful point to the film, the narrative. And the more I watch Woody, I find him going farther and farther from what I'd call a great director. He's a genius writer though. The cast is great, outside of Woody, we have his then spouse (before incest) Mia Farrow, who's wonderful. This film also stars Pollack, Judy Davis, and a small appearance from Neeson. But even the familiar faces can't bring this movie out of the hole.

Absolutely outstanding. Note of advice: do not watch this movie with a married man, they will lecture you how true the 'movie' is and how accurate and crazy Davis is. Well this is one of those perfect movies where there's not much more to say than: perfect.

Whether you are a fan of Allen or not, this film needs to be watched for the opening scene alone. When Jack (Sydney Pollack) and Sally (Sally Davis) come over for a dinner at their friend's Gabe (Woody Allen) and Judy's (Mia Farrow) house, they inform the unexpecting couple that their marriage is dissolving. This is where Allen's genius comes in. Rather than focusing on Jack & Sally, he focuses on Gabe & Judy's reaction to the news and the implications it has on their own marriage. Using a handheld, Allen invasively follows Gabe and Judy. As the camera shakes and follows the disquieted couple, you really get the sense that this news has shaken their foundation. It is a brilliant scene and in my opinion, Woody's best.

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Husbands and wives, common sense media reviewers.

Whiny dramedy about marriage has lots of sex, profanity.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Marriage is a buffer against loneliness. Marriage

A man with masochistic tendencies is drawn to wome

A man drags his younger girlfriend out of a party

A couple is seen, fuzzily and briefly, making love

"F--k," "s--t," "ass," "a--hole," "get it up," "ho

Adults drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes.

Parents need to know that Husbands and Wives is a 1992 Woody Allen movie that looks at marriage and frankly discusses adulterous sexual longings, orgasms, impotence, threesomes, lesbian sex, sex with prostitutes, and other intimate details of married life. Adult characters smoke and drink alcohol. A couple is…

Positive Messages

Marriage is a buffer against loneliness. Marriage is difficult. Some marriages self-destruct after a certain number of years. Even long-married spouses keep secrets from each other to keep the marriage going.

Positive Role Models

A man with masochistic tendencies is drawn to women with mental health issues. Spouses are extremely critical of one another. A married professor is taken with an adoring student. He kisses her but goes no further. A man is engaged in long-term cheating on his wife. A high-strung woman who denigrates everything melts down when she learns her self-justifying husband is having an affair. Women in their 40s worry that they will not be able to attract men. A teenager has simultaneous multiple affairs with older men.

Violence & Scariness

A man drags his younger girlfriend out of a party and wrestles her, kicking and screaming, into his car. Later he makes her wait in the car while he goes to his ex-wife to plead to be taken back. Couples throw hurtful zingers at each other.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A couple is seen, fuzzily and briefly, making love in the dark, and a woman's nipple can be glimpsed. A married man regularly sees a prostitute. Their sexual encounters are not shown. There are references to impotence. A man fantasizes about having sex with his aerobics trainer. Later he leaves his wife for her. A married professor kisses a student but goes no further. A teenager has simultaneous multiple affairs with older men. Discusses adulterous sexual longings, orgasms, impotence, threesomes, lesbian sex, and other intimate details of married life.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

"F--k," "s--t," "ass," "a--hole," "get it up," "hooker," "dick," and "jerking off."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Husbands and Wives is a 1992 Woody Allen movie that looks at marriage and frankly discusses adulterous sexual longings, orgasms, impotence, threesomes, lesbian sex, sex with prostitutes, and other intimate details of married life. Adult characters smoke and drink alcohol. A couple is seen, fuzzily and briefly, making love in the dark, and a woman's nipple can be vaguely glimpsed. A man drags his younger girlfriend out of a party and wrestles her, kicking and screaming, into his car. Later he makes her wait in the car while he goes to his ex-wife to plead to be taken back. Couples throw hurtful zingers at each other. Expect to hear "f--k," "s--t," and "a--hole," as well as other salty language. The mature themes and content makes this best for older teens and up. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (1)

Based on 1 parent review

What's the Story?

In what seems to be a documentary-within-the-film about adultery, a long-married upper-middle-class man and wife announce casually to their best friends that they are breaking up amicably, and the shock destroys the other couple's marriage. The moment the first spouses express their decision to move on and explore being single again, the wife in the second marriage begins questioning all her buried resentments and longings. She has a secret crush on a coworker. She has always wanted a child but her husband doesn't. She feels overly criticized and at the same time ignored by her husband, who is a professor surrounded by pretty, bright, and adoring college girls. As they both focus on yearnings for other partners, which will ultimately break them apart, the first couple, whiny and self-absorbed as ever, get back together, accepting each other's flaws.

Is It Any Good?

There is something both exhilarating and false about the pseudo-cinema verité style of director-writer Woody Allen 's relationship dramedy. Contrived, overlapping dialogue, faltering improvisations, jump cuts, and whirling cinematography all give an attentive viewer a dose of both visual and mental whiplash and a sense that everyone in this movie is trying too hard. You can see the actors straining to be "in the moment" as they consciously interrupt each other while at the same time remembering to stick to the objective of each scene. Some performances rise above the noise. Judy Davis' neurotic and condescending Sally is impressive, if a little wearing. Allen, as prolific and thoughtful as he has been over a career spanning decades, does not wear well in this instance. His "insights" now seem banal -- recognizing that married couples must compromise, that no one's perfect, and that sexual longings are universal but not necessarily beneficial when acted upon. Allen still comes up with some great lines. He chides his friend for moving in with a woman he thinks of as a bimbo, adding, "It's like your IQ suddenly went into remission." But overall, it's difficult to root for anyone here, as the characters are mostly over-privileged, self-absorbed preeners who congratulate themselves for their taste and refinement and lament how tough their lives are to psychiatrists and each other.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about what it means to have unreasonable expectations of other people. Does the movie think that the spouses want too much from their partners?

Does the movie suggest that people look for reassurances in their spouses because their own egos are fragile and they have insecurities?

How would you define a good marriage?

How does this movie compare to other Woody Allen movies you've seen?

Movie Details

• In theaters : July 25, 1992
• On DVD or streaming : January 1, 2002
• Cast : Woody Allen , Judy Davis , Mia Farrow , Sidney Pollack , Liam Neeson , Juliette Lewis
• Director : Woody Allen
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• Genre : Comedy
• Run time : 108 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : Language and a scene of sexuality
• Last updated : March 30, 2022

Did we miss something on diversity?

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Husbands and Wives Review

01 Jan 1992

107 minutes

Husbands and Wives

Rush-released at the time with typical Hollywoodian sensitivity to capitalise on the unfolding drama of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow's break-up, this black comedy of urban manners positively brims with poignant onscreen exchanges. Centred on the familiar Allen square-dance around two couples and shot self-consciously as a documentary, the film is a triumph both as art and propaganda, confirming Allen's skill as a comic director while attempting to acquit him of the charges of philandering he faced in real life.

Woody is Gabe Roth, an English literature lecturer and novelist, whose marriage to Judy (Farrow) is drawing to a close, though neither is quite ready to admit it. The catalyst comes when their best friends - Jack (Pollack) and Sally (Davis) - break-up, opening the Roths' own can of worms and sparking much angst and to-camera soul-searching about the nature of romantic love and passion in marriage. Asked by Judy whether he fancies the "young girls" in his English class, Allen fences beautifully: "Let me tell you, they don't want to know an old man," but when Raine (Lewis), a precocious 20-year-old who writes essays entitled Oral Sex In The Age Of Deconstruction, tells Roth she loves his new novel they quickly become platonically entwined.

"Do you ever hide things from me?" asks Judy. "No, do you?" Allen lies. Incredibly, the real-life resonance of lines like these (admittedly dulled over time) doesn't so much kill the humour as make it all the more delicious, with Allen once again drawing fine performances from his supporting cast, particularly Davis as a frigid-neurotic, and Liam Neeson as Michael, her earthy stand-in lover. Cast again in her Cape Fear Lolita role - but this time more seducer than seduced - Lewis is also completely believable. The same cannot be said for Allen who, while allowing Farrow to get in some minor digs, emerges as the more sympathetic and honourable character.

Allen has long warned his fans against reading too much into his movies, but this time it can only be to his advantage. As a film Husbands And Wives is probably Allen's best effort since Hannah And Her Sisters, but as a kind of docudrama it may well be remembered as his least honest.

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Husbands and Wives

Any similarity between the characters and events in Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives and persons living or dead is, of course, not entirely coincidental. Still, you have to wait until the end of this cynical ensemble drama to witness the most telling link between Allen’s art and life. Allen has cast himself as Gabe Roth, a middle-aged New York fiction writer and English professor who has watched the passion drain out of his marriage. He and Judy (Mia Farrow), his wife of 10 years, still get along, but they don’t pretend to love each other with any urgency. As a result, Gabe has gone and done what so many men in his situation do. He has formed an attachment to a younger woman.

Rain (Juliette Lewis), a sexy creative writing student with a thing for father figures, idolizes Gabe. The two have become flirtatious friends, and at her 21st-birthday party she makes a move, asking Gabe to kiss her. After the kiss, they’re standing in the kitchen and talking; if romance blooms, it’s going to happen now. Gabe, though, refuses to take the plunge. Instead, he yammers out some sheepish explanation about how it just wouldn’t be a good idea.

His decision is mature, responsible, and plausible. Nevertheless, as he backs off from the attraction that has fueled him through most of the film, it’s hard to shake the feeling — at least, hard for anyone who has felt wired into Woody Allen’s private life during the past few weeks — that Gabe’s action is a kind of sugarcoated cop-out. It’s not that I’m recommending May-December flings. It’s that, whatever one’s moral judgment of it, the real version was so much more…interesting.

In Husbands and Wives , Woody Allen has made a somber, mid-life version of what appears to be a classic Allen comedy of romantic confusion. The movie centers on two middle-aged couples: Jack (Sydney Pollack) and Sally (Judy Davis), who announce early on that they’re splitting up, and their old friends Gabe and Judy. Before long, all four characters become involved with other partners. Some of the relationships are comic and superficial. The gruffly affable, bearlike Jack, for instance, starts going out with his aerobics instructor, a chatty bimbo (Lysette Anthony) he’s convinced is changing his life. Meanwhile, the two women take turns dating Michael (Liam Neeson), a handsome editor who falls hard for Sally, even as Judy falls for him. As partners are juggled, the same themes and patterns keep emerging: that passion within marriage is an illusory, fleeting thing; that people often fail to end up with the partners they love most; that erotic fantasy — at least, for men — has almost no connection to intimacy; that you never really know your own best friends.

Husbands and Wives is accomplished and engrossing. In its essential outline, the film stands alongside Annie Hall , Manhattan , and Hannah and Her Sisters — those great, funny, sad, achingly romantic comedies that are Allen’s supreme achievement as a director. At the same time, something is slightly off. Whenever the characters open their mouths, what comes out has a morose, exhausting sameness — it’s the post-analytic whine of Allen’s ersatz-Bergman melodramas ( Interiors , September , Another Woman ).

The daunted, sour outlook represents an older and wiser Woody. To a degree, though, he may be mistaking joylessness for wisdom. The people in Husbands and Wives are so busy explaining themselves, excavating their own fears, desires, and motivations, that there’s hardly a moment when they simply exist. Allen seems to be saying that life boils down to two options: the boring security of marriage or the pleasure of irresponsible sex. But isn’t there any middle ground? If the lifestyle upheavals of the last 20 years have accomplished anything, it has been to expand the possibilities of connection, erotic and otherwise, within marriage. Husbands and Wives isn’t really darker than Manhattan or Hannah; it just leaves out the romantic giddiness and most of the jokes. And it was precisely the blend of tones in those earlier films — the cynicism and romance — that made them so profound and enjoyable. Husbands and Wives feels rigged. The movie is less a drama than a series of overly chewed-on observations.

Still, as Woody’s angst-a-thons go, this one is singularly lively and well acted. Allen pulls a major performance out of veteran director Sydney Pollack. Pollack brings off something very tricky: He highlights the crazed, pent-up vitality in Jack’s mid-life crisis even as he shows you how pathetic and self-deluded the guy is. There’s a wrenching party scene in which Jack explodes with disgust at his new girlfriend. Jack goes too far — we see the tyrant inside the mensch — and it’s shocking to witness his anger breaking through the movie’s controlled surface.

In some ways, Allen’s view of women now seems embarrassingly out of date (did he have to make Jack’s girlfriend an astrology nut?), but he has written sharp, perky roles for Juliette Lewis and the great Judy Davis. As Rain, Lewis, with her throaty voice and puffed-out lips, is like a teenage Bette Davis; she’s a dazzling camera subject, and she gives furtive, ironic twists to her lines. And Judy Davis takes what is by now an Allen archetype — the frazzled neurotic perfectionist — and turns the part into a series of comic epiphanies. Her hypercritical Sally uses ”standards” to keep life at arm’s length. Making love to Michael, she’s so serenely, hilariously detached that she barely seems to exist within her own body.

Allen has dressed up the movie with visual gimmicks. Much of Husbands and Wives was shot with a jittery, hand-held camera, and there are jump cuts within scenes — a self-conscious way of making everything seem raw and real. In a running stunt, the characters make confessional statements to a voice off screen. At first we think they’re talking to their shrinks. Then it becomes clear that they’re speaking to an ”interviewer.” The conceit is naggingly bizarre: Is someone making a documentary about their lives? The true problem with this device, though, is that there’s virtually no contrast between the clinical, self-analytical tone of the interviews and the way the characters talk the rest of the time. Husbands and Wives is a big, spongy ball of therapeutic angst. I hope Woody Allen continues pouring his life into his movies, but next time he’d do well to keep the couch off camera. B

Grass is always greener in ‘Husbands and Wives’ (1992)

Woody Allen bounces back from perhaps his worst movie, “Shadows and Fog” (1991), with one of his best: “Husbands and Wives” (1992). He gets back to his comfort zone of exploring the nature of relationships.

Consistently funny

Certainly, “Manhattan” (1979) comes to mind when Allen’s middle-aged English professor Gabe becomes smitten with worshipful 20-year-old student Rain (Juliette Lewis, currently in “Yellowjackets” ). But no two Woody movies are exactly the same, even though he revisits themes.

“Husbands and Wives” is funny from start to finish despite having no pratfall humor, zingers or snort-worthy non sequiturs. The humor is like a comfortable breeze. It’s consistently funny to see adults analyze their decisions about love and relationships. They think they are being rational, but we see they are trying to trick themselves.

“Husbands and Wives” (1992)

Director: Woody Allen

Writer: Woody Allen

Stars: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Sydney Pollack

“H&W” directly digs into the “grass is greener” phenomenon. Setting aside open marriages, it’s impossible for a person to be both married and single at the same time. So whatever status you have, you’ll have some envy of the other status, which you don’t have.

Four top-of-their-game actors play this out. Jack and Sally (Sydney Pollack and Judy Davis) tell their friends Gabe and Judy (Mia Farrow) they are amicably splitting up. As those two explore newly single life, Jack and Sally dream about theoretically greener grass. Gabe eyes Rain, and Judy eyes coworker Michael (Liam Neeson).

Documentary style

A great supporting turn comes from Cristi Conaway as aerobics instructor Shawn, who is good for Jack off the bat … until she embarrasses him at intellectual gatherings by talking about the Zodiac and alignment of planets.

A funny flashback segment comes after Gabe and Rain run into Rain’s ex (Ron Rifkin). So she has a thing for older men, Gabe thinks. But Rain’s full explanation is hilarious in its absurdity. Rain met Rifkin’s character via two previous older men she dated.

These purposely heightened bits don’t detract from the grounded scenarios, such as Sally being nervous about Michael’s fast advances. “H&W’s” distinct style keeps everything on the same level, in a good way.

Although he has characters play out scenarios to contrast marriage with dating, Allen recognizes this is mostly an analytical question in real life. By embracing its analytical core, “H&W” becomes daringly stylized in a way we hadn’t seen from Allen since “Annie Hall.”

Carlo di Palma is again on hand as Allen’s cinematographer, but “H&W” is not so much concerned with visual beauty (although we do get flirty autumn-in-the-park walk-and-talks). Rather, the memorable camerawork trait is the handheld documentary style.

Stumbling toward maturity

Technically, the off-screen documentarian/interviewer (voiced by Jeffrey Kurland) can’t be present at all these intimate moments. None of the participants would agree to that, especially Sally, who struggles with intimacy. (Also, of course, genuinely natural moments can’t happen when participants know they are being filmed.)

But because “H&W” uses the documentary style from page one, we have to accept it in order to go on the ride. I quickly got used to it.

Another piece of stylization comes when Gabe discusses his novel-in-progress to Rain, who thinks the manuscript is brilliant but has problems with Gabe’s perspective on women. As Gabe defends his novel, Allen is defending his point of view to film critics and viewers.

In a more direct faux-umentary touch later popularized by “The Office,” the off-screen interviewer poses questions to Gabe, who is willing to answer them honestly (just as Allen is open about personal foibles via his art). Why is Gabe fascinated by a 20-year-old’s perspective while brushing aside that of his wife?

He doesn’t know. But he does know that rational thought isn’t in play. When you boil it down, that might be what defines maturity. In middle age, Gabe has accepted that he doesn’t know.

Click here to visit our Woody Allen Zone.

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Produced by, released by, husbands and wives (1992), directed by woody allen.

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Review by Jason Clark

A docudrama style look at infidelity and marriage amongst a group of fortysomethings, this penetrating film by Woody Allen contains all of his signature one-liners and New York valentines, but with a refreshing sense of irony and brittle humor. Husbands and Wives doesn't stray much from his dissections of romance past, which include the remarkable Annie Hall, but this newer film features a self-reflexive nature absent from many of his previous efforts. The cast is uniformly first-rate, especially Judy Davis as the film's foremost neurotic, and a welcome addition to writer-director Allen's gallery of fine female portrayals. Interestingly, the film opened after a highly publicized real-life scandal involving Allen, Mia Farrow (also featured in the film) and Farrow's adopted daughter, Soon-yi Previn. Many critics noted that watching this film was like peering into the private lives of its principal characters, especially in a film whose key theme is remaining faithful in a rocky marriage.

HUSBANDS AND WIVES

What You Need To Know:

Woody Allen's HUSBANDS AND WIVES explores the collision of the need for commitment and the longing for personal freedom in the lives of two married couples. HUSBANDS AND WIVES contains many interesting observations on the pros and cons of single and married life, but they come delivered with excessive profanity and vulgarity, two adulterous relationships and the bleak absence of spiritual values.

(H, LL, Ab, SS, NN) Existential humanism complete with: 43 obscenities & 17 profanities; some extremely crude references to sexual pleasure; gratuitous insult to God and prominent graffiti reading "Gay 90's"; 2 adulterous relationships & adulterous attraction of older man to 20 year old woman; and, adulterous sex scene with upper female nudity.

More Detail:

Woody Allen’s HUSBANDS AND WIVES explores the collision of the need for commitment and the longing for personal freedom in the lives of two married couples. In his characteristically slippery way, Allen manages to affirm the reality of the human need for enduring, committed relationships while choosing to rebel against it in favor of personal autonomy. The marriage of Gabe and Judy Roth (Woody Allen and Mia Farrow) is impacted by the marital breakup of their best friends Jack and Sally. As Jack and Sally try out new partners, Judy and Gabe become involved in relationships that are not affairs, but still awaken tensions and unfulfilled longings that lead to the breakup of their marriage.

HUSBANDS AND WIVES is filmed in a choppy, anxious, cinema verite style, utilizing a hand-held camera. The scenes are interspersed with interviews with each character, separate and together, like a documentary or a news program. This creates a tension which complements the performances. Although fascinating in its perceptions, HUSBANDS AND WIVES is brought down by a multitude of sins. It will not take long for many viewers to become tired of these characters and their relentlessly selfish attitudes.

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The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time.

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Everything to Know About Rory St. Clair Gainer, Rebecca Ferguson’s Husband

Actress Rebecca Ferguson has been a big name in Hollywood since she landed a role in the Mission: Impossible franchise alongside Tom Cruise. But her husband of five years, Rory St. Clair Gainer, doesn’t have a career in the spotlight.

Previously, Ferguson was in a relationship with Swedish businessman Ludwig Hallberg. They met in 2003 and began dating shortly after. In 2007, Ferguson gave birth to their son, Isac Hallberg. They broke up in 2015.

Ahead, everything to know about Gainer and his relationship with his movie-star wife, Ferguson.

Gainer and Ferguson got married in 2018.

In January 2019, Ferguson revealed that she and Gainer had a private, intimate wedding towards the end of 2018. Her 16-year-old son served as the ring bearer.

“I think we both wanted to step over all thresholds. Also, I’m not very religious. I believe in love,” she told Extra TV. “It was more for us and our family. We rented a cottage with friends and family and Wellington boots and big wooly socks and big ruggy jumpers, games, snooker, table tennis.”

“It’s perfect,” Extra’s Tanika Ray replied. “Were you in a wedding dress?”

“No!” Ferguson answered as if the question appalled her. “I wore a beautiful wedding skirt that I can shorten off, get some pockets in, and I’ll use it in Greece for the summer.”

The actress emphasized that married life didn’t change anything for her and Gainer, but there was one minor difference that she enjoyed.

“What’s fun is we keep on saying, ‘Hey, hubby. Hey, wifey.’ You know, it’s fun,” she joked.

Gainer and Ferguson have a child together.

In an interview with Moviefone, Ferguson revealed that she was pregnant while filming Mission: Impossible — Fallout. In August 2017, costar Tom Cruise broke his ankle on set, halting production and leading Ferguson to have to shoot while she was several months pregnant.

“I think I was, when we wrapped, I was five, six months pregnant,” she shared. “So, yeah. I had a big bump while shooting.”

The star debuted her pregnant belly on the red carpet of the 2018 BAFTA Awards in February.

In July 2018, a rep for Ferguson confirmed with People that she had welcomed a baby girl, Sage, with her husband.

In a March 2024 interview with Irish radio station U105, Ferguson shared a funny story about her daughter.

“So, it’s Valentine’s Day, right?” she recalled. “My daughter was in a shop with my husband...She goes up to a card, and she goes, ‘This is perfect for mummy.’ It’s a picture of Timothée [Chalamet], who she thought was her dad because it looks like my husband, and it says, ‘Will you Wonka my Willy?’”

“But she doesn’t get it. She’s like, ‘Oh, it’s Willy Wonka! My Willy dad.’ And I’m like, ‘No,’” she added, laughing.

Ferguson and Gainer are frequently seen out together.

While the married couple likes to keep details of their relationship private, they do give the public glimpses into their lives.

Most recently, on February 26, Ferguson and Gainer were photographed out in New York City. They were dressed casually, with Ferguson in light-wash jeans, a matching denim jacket, and black loafers. Gainer was dressed in a black puffer jacket, black jeans, sneakers, and a beanie. They both wore similar styles of tinted sunglasses.

Gainer is a supportive husband.

In February 2024, Gainer helped style his wife’s look for the New York premiere of Dune: Part Two. She told Harper’s Bazaar that he picked up some accessories from their local pet supply store. To go with her edgy, sheer lace ensemble, Gainer got her a stack of silver dog chains.

He also frequently attends events with Ferguson. While she opted to pose for photos by herself, she later posted a video of Gainer holding up an umbrella to shade her from the sun on the red carpet of the Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One world premiere.

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'Sister Wives' Star Christine Brown Reveals a Pet Peeve She Has About Her New Husband David

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Sounds like the honeymoon stage might be over between Christine Brown and her new husband, David Woolley . On Thursday, the Sister Wives star took to her Instagram Stories to share one of her "car confessions," and this one revolved around David's driving habits. 

"Whenever David drives my car, he backs into the garage, just like I like him to," she says of her husband at their Utah home. "But then he parks so close to the wall that it's super difficult to get out."

The TLC star then imitated her husband, jokingly saying, "And he's like, 'Look at my impressive backing up skills, ha ha ha, I'm gonna trap you in, ha ha ha,' and he does, every single time!"

David and Christine tied the knot in October 2023 after less than a year of dating. David was Christine's first serious relationship following her 2021 split from the father of her six children, Kody Brown . 

Christine has been struggling with her return to daily life in the wake of Garrison Brown's death. Garrison was the 25-year-old son of Kody and Christine's sister wife, Janelle Brown , whom she considered to be a son of her own. 

Earlier this week, Christine shared an emotional video, saying, "It's been two weeks since Garrison's death. It's never easier to say, and I have to keep working because it's what I understand. It's what I know. It's what I know I need to do." 

She went on to add, "It's a terrible thing to lose your son. And we're going to miss him all the time, every single day for the rest of our lives, so we've gotta just keep moving forward because otherwise, I would just want to stay in bed all day."

Garrison died earlier this month of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 25. Several of his siblings and family members have spoken out in the wake of his death. 

At the time, Janelle released a joint statement with her ex, writing, "Kody and I are deeply saddened to announce the loss of our beautiful boy Robert Garrison Brown. He was a bright spot in the lives of all who knew him. His loss will leave such a big hole in our lives that it takes our breath away. We ask that you please respect our privacy and join us in honoring his memory." 

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to  suicidepreventionlifeline.org .

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‘Snack Shack’ Review: Gabriel LaBelle and Conor Sherry Play Teenage Hustlers in a By-the-Book Coming-of-Age Tale

Director Adam Rehmeier’s third feature distinguishes itself with a zippy cast, but proves too timid once it gets serious.

By J. Kim Murphy

J. Kim Murphy

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Can you remember how you spent your childhood summers? Were they by the pool eating concession stand junk? Biking everywhere you went? Fist-fighting your best friend? Falling for a girl from out of town? Something along those lines? Or maybe you just saw a movie like that. That kind of easy familiarity is what teen comedy “ Snack Shack ” comfortably sets up shop on. Armed with a talented cast, writer-director Adam Rehmeier’s 1991-set feature happily squares itself in a tradition of teenage hedonism and broad learning opportunities, settling into a generic but warm glow.

Rehmeier angles the style for a nostalgia factor, naturally. (The production shot on location in his hometown of Nebraska City.) A sweaty microwaved hot dog has rarely been photographed with such affection. And the filmmaker peppers in plenty of other anachronisms to establish a sunny tone, including a retro title card with production companies, colorful costuming and plenty of Gen X soundtrack staples. (They even locked down the rights to “Age of Consent.”)

AJ and Moose aren’t the most cautious businessmen. An opening scene introduces the two puffing cigarettes across state lines, absconding from a school trip to put up bets at the tracks (and not even on horses, but on dogs). AJ’s parents (David Costabile and Gillian Vigman) don’t approve of their son’s choice in friends, instead harboring hopes that he will reach for more socially acceptable entrepreneurial ventures. But after Moose pressures the more sheepish AJ to empty his bank account for an overpaying bid on the Snack Shack, the only way out of the red is going all-in on the business.

Another effectively grating profanity: “Shit Pig,” the awful pet name that girl-next-door Brooke (Mika Abdalla) calls AJ throughout the film. As with plenty of teen features before, this prickly crush isn’t exactly the sharpest-drawn character — a shortcoming further accentuated by the annoying fluttery score that creeps in whenever she shares a scene with AJ. But Abdalla and Sherry do strike a winning chemistry, and the actress offers some subtle indicators that Brooke’s ironic detachment masks a more private sadness. “Snack Shack” largely operates as a slack series of shenanigans, but the budding teen romance offers a spine, as well as an opportunity to get dramatic once Brooke draws the attention of Moose, predictably putting the boys’ friendship in jeopardy.

LaBelle, too, makes a strong impression. Having already been headhunted by Steven Spielberg to play the director’s soft-spoken self-portrait in “The Fabelmans,” the 21-year-old actor proves his mettle once again here, amping it up as a fake-it-till-you-make-it alpha, whose gung-ho demeanor clearly masks some emotional deficiencies. The cast shows talent across the board, further tested by a tonal rug pull in the final act that has the characters confronting more serious matters than crushes and candy bars.

Rehmeier proves less versatile in that transition. The director possesses a winning sense of comic discovery, welcoming unexpected ways to extend awkward interactions — like when AJ seems to accidentally fall of his bike while rushing away from Brooke — while also knowing when to put a button on scenes whenever a character achieves profound embarrassment. Like its teenage heroes, “Snack Shack” scraps together a scant but charismatic personality working among used parts. But once the story has nowhere to go but a tearjerker denouement, its world seems rather thin.

Reviewed online, March 14, 2024. MPA Rating: R. Running time: 112 MIN.

• Production: A Republic Pictures release of an MRC Film, T-Street, Paperclip Limited production. Producers: Ben Cornwell, Jordan Foley, Ben LeClair, Nick Smith. Executive producers: Ram Bergman, Charles Cohen, Yeardley Smith. Co-producers: Charles Cohen.
• Crew: Director: Adam Rehmeier. Writer: Adam Rehmeier. Camera: Jean-Philippe Bernier. Editor: Justin Krohn. Music: Keegan DeWitt.
• With: Conor Sherry, Gabriel LaBelle, Mika Abdalla, Nick Robinson, David Costabile, Gillian Vigman, June Gentry, April Clark, Michael Bonini, Christian James.

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Who Is This Strange Woman, and What Is She Doing Here?

‘Elsbeth’ takes a boilerplate police procedural and tosses in a character from another show entirely — with delightful results.

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By Phillip Maciak

The most-watched streaming series of 2023, it turns out, was “Suits.” All your faves — the conceptually and emotionally difficult ones, the family-trauma dramedies, the zombie soaps and franchise space operas — were as dust in comparison with a bouncy basic-cable legal procedural. If Gen Z viewers are looking at the buffet of TV content and choosing old-school blue-sky procedurals over “Succession” or “The Mandalorian,” what becomes of the world all these streamers and premium-cable networks worked so hard to build?

CBS might have the answer, and her name is Elsbeth Tascioni . This defense attorney, played by Carrie Preston, was a beloved guest character on “The Good Wife” and its sequel/spinoff, “The Good Fight,” both created by the network veterans Robert and Michelle King. Tascioni is, in the parlance of today’s internet, a “weird little guy.” Outfitted in blaring patterns and carrying numerous quilted tote bags at all times, she is both hard to miss and easy to overlook. She appeared in just under 20 episodes across both series but delighted fans as one of the strangest and funniest running gags in two series already filled to the brim with running gags and high-wattage guest stars. Where Julianna Margulies on “The Good Wife” is all elegance and eroticism, Elsbeth is kooky and oddly mannered. Where Christine Baranski on “The Good Fight” is all gravitas and moral outrage, Elsbeth is non sequiturs and slapstick — a whimsical agent of chaos, an odd bird among all those silken and self-serious lawyers.

Now she has her own show, “Elsbeth.” The previous entries in the Kings’ trilogy took place in Chicago, but “Elsbeth” sends Tascioni to take Manhattan, Muppet-style. Without any of her former co-stars to contextualize her, she begins as a fish out of water. She has been tasked with observing a police precinct after a series of wrongful arrests and other violations (and, secretly, with collecting evidence for a corruption case). She wriggles her way into ongoing investigations, stymying police detectives and, almost always, proving them to be arrogant dummies. She is, in other words, an annoyance. Nearly everyone she meets reacts the same way: Who is this strange woman, and what is she doing here? Viewers might ask the same. Why would anybody greenlight a spinoff about a minor character who appeared in a smattering of episodes of two moderately successful series over a period of 14 years? Who is this strange woman, and what is she doing here?

The answer is that Elsbeth Tascioni, and the oddball detective procedural in which she now lives, exist because Robert and Michelle King know what they’re doing. They have always been particularly self-conscious creators of network procedurals, working in a kind of uncanny valley: The shows are immersive, dramatic crowd-pleasers, but they are also playful, ironic, even occasionally postmodern in their building out of intellectual property. “Elsbeth” isn’t just a spinoff; it’s a spinoff about spinoffs.

From the perspective of what we can now call the “Good Wife” Televisual Universe, the very existence of “Elsbeth” is a pretty funny joke. It is a canny management of the industry’s obsession with reused intellectual property, but it is also a satisfying mockery of it, a rogue spinoff that has become self-aware. Elsbeth isn’t just a fish out of water in Manhattan. She’s a fish out of water on her own show.

This estrangement is embedded in the visual language of the show. Subway ads for the series featured a shot of uniformed police officers, a burly polyester wall, with Preston seemingly poking her head in from out of frame, wearing a pink overcoat, a crocheted scarf and a foam Statue of Liberty crown. This is Elsbeth, they announced: Nobody knows who she is, but she certainly doesn’t belong here. Scenes in the show itself are often blocked as though a passing tourist has happened upon the filming of a “Law & Order” episode, butted her way into the scene and ended up solving the murder. At the start of the third episode, we see a row of bystanders behind caution tape on a dark Manhattan street, their bodies a gray woolen barrier — until we spot a soft pom-pom bobbing up and down behind them, straining for a view. That’s Elsbeth, who must crouch and sneak through a forest of legs to get to her crime scene. There’s a series of shots, repeated in several episodes, in which a central-casting homicide detective is interviewing an eyewitness; the camera moves back and forth, capturing the interviewee at a lower angle and the commanding cop at a higher one, until the diminutive Elsbeth invariably scoots her way into the cop’s frame, taking it over from beneath. They never see her coming.

Elsbeth is a time traveler from an antique land before the boom of Peak TV.

The core joke of “Elsbeth” is its own wobbly preposterousness, the way its protagonist is at odds not only with the other characters but also with the show that’s nominally built around her. In ways both too cute and really quite ingenious, Elsbeth Tascioni keeps disrupting a boilerplate CBS police procedural already in progress. The characters themselves notice this: The first three episodes have been layered with double entendres, reaching a boiling point in an episode revolving around a “Real Housewives”-style reality series. Elsbeth tells a producer: “I don’t think I’d do well on television.” Later, the producer lashes out at her: “You have no idea how hard it is to make good TV, Miss Tascioni, and you never will.” One detective questions not just the character but the show: “Elsbeth? What kind of name is that?” In a particularly sharp moment, the guest star Jane Krakowski simply stops the action to tell Elsbeth: “ You I don’t get at all. I don’t get who you are or what you actually do.”

These lines are both nervous tics and statements of blithe confidence. They are also one droll reason for why the show works: It’s in a constant, comical state of existential crisis.

A hallmark of the Kings’ series is their mischievous messing with established formats; they play with genre in order to destabilize it, asking us to rethink concepts like justice or the binary of good and evil. With “Elsbeth,” they may aim to mount an unassuming critique of TV-cop propaganda. (Elsbeth is almost always right, while the police are almost always blinded by cockiness and self-assurance, having never once questioned their own purpose.) But it strikes me that you could just as easily see this as a show that’s interested less in the police than in the industry that keeps making shows about them.

The Kings have already made self-referential shows about lawyers and cops and priests and senators, dramas and satires and erotic thrillers about the lofty and corrupt institutions that structure our world. Is television itself not an institution worthy of such critical minds? When “The Good Wife” ended, several critics called it the last great network drama — a designation that, in retrospect, says as much about the networks as it does about the drama. Elsbeth does not belong in a CBS procedural; she is a time traveler from an antique land before the boom of Peak TV, before our current era of algorithmic austerity. Thus far, her show is a relatively simple one, but the Kings do not have a reputation for keeping things simple. What if they made a show about their own institution, a self-referential tale about an industry that holds itself in such low regard that it imagines its product could be made by artificial intelligence rather than writers and showrunners? An industry that mourns the loss of “The Good Wife” but would never greenlight it today? That show might focus on a figure dressed in bright colors, gazing in wonder at aspects of the world that other characters never stop to notice, carrying overstuffed tote bags filled with new ideas to a place that scorns color and wonderment and ideas. Nobody would ever see her coming.

Phillip Maciak is The New Republic’s TV critic and the author of the book “Avidly Reads Screen Time.” He teaches at Washington University in St. Louis.

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