Review: Bye Bye Love

Three divorced dads (Paul Reiser, Randy Quaid, Matthew Modine) and the varying ways they manage their own lives as well as adjusting to being a divorced parent to their kids. Paul Reiser is Donny, who frankly isn’t over his ex (Jayne Brook), and has a rebellious teenage daughter (Eliza Dushku) he’s struggling to communicate with. Matthew Modine is Dave, who is frankly an irresponsible skirt chaser who has a revolving door of girlfriends (Maria Pitillo is his latest, Kim) but he can’t help but flirt with the mothers at his son Ross Malinger’s sports games. Then there’s Vic (Randy Quaid), who is frankly pissed off. About everything. Especially the mother (Lindsay Crouse) of his kids (Amber Benson and a young Mae Whitman). He also has it in for a lousy radio shrink played by Rob Reiner. Janeane Garofalo plays Vic’s blind date, who is the exact wrong match for him. Amy Brenneman plays Dave’s ex, who lends an ear to Donny and vice versa. Ed Flanders plays an elderly fast-food employee who is being mentored by the much younger Johnny Whitworth. Look out for Danny Masterson and Jack Black at a party.

Three hilarious performances aren’t quite enough to bring this 1995 comedy-drama from director Sam Weisman (“Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star”, “D2: The Mighty Ducks”) over the line. Scripted by Gary David Goldberg (the underrated “Dad”, creator of TV’s amiable “Family Ties”) and Mrs. Elaine Benes (AKA “SNL” alum Brad Hall), it’s occasionally meandering and never quite overcomes its misjudged choice of a leading actor and character. Matthew Modine isn’t a terrible actor, but he’s also not a terribly captivating one. He’s boring, bland, and forgettable. More damagingly, I had zero sympathy for this guy. This is a guy who had absolutely zero business having children at this point in his life. Just because you turn up to softball games and plan the occasional party doesn’t make up for him showing his impressionable young son a revolving door of new girlfriends in his life. The character Modine plays here is a borderline sex addict if you ask me, and it helps torpedo the film’s chances of success. If you still think Modine is a good dad when the soccer mum he’s been hitting on turns up during his dinner with current girlfriend Maria Pitillo, well…then the other soccer mum he’s been hitting on turns up. So you’re wrong, and he’s terrible. His blatant flirting with two different women right in front of his current girlfriend isn’t funny, it’s disgusting. His kids are home, for fuck’s sake. If you don’t want to be a grown-up, don’t have kids. Total miscalculation in screenwriting.

The other major problem I had with the film is Paul Reiser, who I find a naturally sleazy, unlikeable, and unfunny actor. He makes my skin crawl. Here his best moments are with Amy Brenneman, obvious as that story strand is. He gets acted off the screen by his on-screen daughter Eliza Dushku, who is one of at least three “Buffy” alumni here (Lindsay Crouse and Amber Benson being the other two I can think of). He was well-cast in “Aliens”, but otherwise has proven himself to be no actor. The film has a habit of meandering with two frankly irrelevant characters played by Johnny Whitworth and the late, troubled Ed Flanders. Both are rock-solid, but they have practically nothing to do with what is otherwise a film about divorced/separated dads. How do I know their story strand is irrelevant? They’re the only characters not appearing in the film’s epilogue. Why? Because they don’t matter.

If there’s a reason to see the film, well there’s actually three great performances in the film, but one is Randy Quaid and the other two are connected to his character anyway. Quaid, a talented, versatile, and lately absent actor (and strange human being) has one of his finest-ever showings here. He looks in great shape and great spirits here, and while 20 years is a long time ago, one has to wonder what the fuck has happened to him. The mountain man beard, the erratic behaviour, arrests, fleeing to Canada, ‘Star Whacking’, etc. Come back to planet Earth soon, Randy. The world misses you. He’s on a completely different level to Modine and Reiser here, funny but also believable as a guy with a lot of bitter and resentment over his divorce, but still a loving father. His pent-up frustration is hilarious, culminating in a huge meltdown/hostage situation at a local radio station. Before that though, we get a very funny bit involving “The Yearling”, and the comic highlight of the film that is ‘The Date From Hell’. Enter Janeane Garofalo, almost stealing the show as Randy’s completely ill-suited, highly irritating blind date. She’s bizarre, he’s Randy Quaid, and the whole thing is a laugh riot. The other comedic force in the film to nearly (but not quite) steal scenes from Quaid is one Rob Reiner. Perfectly cast as a completely useless, phony radio shrink with such pap offerings as ‘I feel your headache, Craig. I do’, you have no problems seeing why Quaid’s increasingly embittered and angry divorced father would want to take all of his frustration out on this empty toolbag. You keep willing the film to be better, but outside of these three performances and characters, it’s just not up to snuff. It’s sitcom material. Let’s not even talk about the most egregious product placement for McDonald’s, probably the worst of its kind since “Mac and Me”.

I guess some might find it interesting to see actors before their prime (Eliza Dushku, Johnny Whitworth, Amber Benson, Danny Masterson, Mae Whitman, Jack Black) and those who never quite made it (Maria Pitillo, Ross Malinger). It’s not a bad film as is, but if it weren’t for the performances by Randy Quaid, Janeane Garofalo, and Rob Reiner, this daddy-centric cinematic sitcom would be pretty torturous. Matthew Modine plays a highly unsympathetic character, Paul Reiser is a highly unsympathetic screen presence, and for the most part this is pretty tedious, clichéd stuff. Those three performers though, are hilarious.

Rating: C+