Director Robert Altman ventures into Woody Allen territory with this comic romp about a group of neurotic adults living, dating, and undergoing therapy in New York City. After Prudence (Julie Hagerty) answers a personal ad placed by Bruce (Jeff Goldblum), the couple meet at a French restaurant to get acquainted, with disastrous results. Prudence doesn’t respond well to the news that Bruce is a bisexual currently living with another man, Bob (Christopher Guest) and rushes back to her therapist--and ex-lover--Stuart (Tom Conti) to try to come to terms with this. Meanwhile, two doors down, Bruce is meeting with his therapist Charlotte (Glenda Jackson) who can’t seem to pay attention long enough to do any serious counseling. When Bob’s overprotective mother Ziai (Genevieve Page) tips off Bob, the romantic foibles spin even further out of control, climaxing at the same French restaurant where Bruce and Prudence first met. Altman, who co-wrote the screenplay with playwright Christopher Durang, author of the original stage play, edits the film at a frenetic pace which mimics the insanity of the characters themselves. The actors, playing bumbling, confused patients and therapists, all deliver strong comic performances, but it is Conti’s absurd Stuart that triggers the loudest laughs.
