Of one of the functions of art is to explore emotions, one of the functions of entertainment may be to improve emotions-to recreate them in a cleaner, clearer, more convenient form. That`s what happens in ”Cousins,” an American remake of the French romantic comedy of 1975, ”Cousin, Cousine.”
The subject of ”Cousins” is infidelity, a subject that generates some very strong feelings in the non-movie world: hurt, anger, guilt, shame and powerful depression, to name a few.
But ”Cousins,” through an ingenious series of transferrals and displacements largely inherited from Jean-Claude Tacchella`s original, manages to make the discovery of a spouse`s infidelity seem a downright liberating thing. Betrayal becomes a warm, wonderful experience.
Which is not to say that ”Cousins,” as directed in its American incarnation by Joel Schumacher (”St. Elmo`s Fire”), is a bad movie-it`s only a synthetic one. It is, in fact, somewhat more fluid and gracefully played than the French original, and as long as one remembers that reassurance is not a substitute for insight, it can be a mildly enjoyable experience.
Structured around a series of family events-weddings, anniversaries, funerals-”Cousins” tells the story of free-spirit Larry Kozinski (Ted Danson), a securities analyst who has dropped out of the rat race to become a dance instructor in Seattle. Tish (Sean Young), Larry`s sharply beautiful and more ambitious wife, takes out her disappointments by having a fling with Tom Hardy (William Petersen), a crass, womanizing car salesman.
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Tom is married, too-to the saintly Maria (Isabella Rossellini), who has long since learned to overlook Tom`s infidelities for the sake of their small daughter. But when Maria meets Larry, a cousin by marriage, for a lunch time commiseration session, something passes between them: They decide to stage an affair of their own to get back at their spouses, and their conspiratorial friendship soon deepens.
For all of the film`s bouncy lyrical interludes and swelling sentiment, it`s essentially a tale of revenge-though it`s a nice revenge, purged of fury and meanness, that ennobles the characters rather than debasing them. The fantasy of ”Cousins” is ingenious and, in its own way, quite perfect:
Betrayal becomes an opportunity for growth, and spitefulness opens into love. ”Cousins” borrows liberally from last year`s infidelity romp
”Moonstruck” with its emphasis on extended families and generational differences: In an elaborate subplot, Larry`s widowed father (Lloyd Bridges)
romances Maria`s widowed mother (Norma Aleandro), while Mitch (Keith Coogan), Larry`s 14-going-on-40 son from a previous marriage, wrestles with his own romantic impulses.
As Larry, Ted Danson musters more presence than he has shown in a film before, though he still seems too low density a performer to make it on the big screen. William Petersen, as the craven Tom, has exactly the opposite problem-he is too dark and knotty a performer to comfortably bring off the caricatured villainy of the part as written.
But ”Cousins” has a tremendous asset in Isabella Rossellini, who has finally found her own ease and rhythm on screen; she now seems as open and unprotected a performer as her mother, Ingrid Bergman, with a sense of humor that seems very much her own.
”COUSINS”
(STAR)(STAR)(STAR)
Directed by Joel Schumacher; written by Stephen Metcalfe; photographed by Ralf Bode; edited by Robert Brown; art direction by Mark S. Freeborn; music by Angelo Badalamenti; produced by William Allyn. A Paramount release; opens Feb. 10 at the Water Tower, Biograph and outlying theaters. Running time: 1:50. MPAA rating: PG-13. Adult situations.
THE CAST
Larry Kozinski……………………………………Ted Danson
Maria Hardy………………………………Isabella Rossellini
Tish Kozinski…………………………………….Sean Young
Tom Hardy…………………………………..William Petersen
Vince Kozinski…………………………………Lloyd Bridges
Edie Costello…………………………………Norma Aleandro