Once Around

(Lasse Hallström, USA, 1991)

Once Around is a surprising film. The first American assignment for Swedish director Lasse Hallström (My Life as a Dog, 1985), it begins as a mildly charming comedy of manners.

An insecure young woman, Renata (Holly Hunter), on the relationship rebound from an uptight intellectual, becomes attracted to a garish, fast-talking “motivation man”, Sam Sharpe (a superb performance by Richard Dreyfuss).

Once added to Renata’s volatile Italo-American family (a brilliant ensemble including Gena Rowlands, Danny Aiello and Laura San Giacomo), Sam whips up everyone's emotions exactly as he does in his job – with often ill-judged jokes, taunts, gifts and overbearing displays of intimacy.

Slowly, the film turns from an odd-couple romance to a harrowing drama about the conflict between love and family ties.

Finally, with the sudden introduction of a heart attack, it enters Terms of Endearment (1983) territory. In fact, the most complimentary thing you can say about Once Around is that it approaches James L. Brooks (a tragically underrated figure) territory.

It is an unexpectedly intense movie, covering a veritable kaleidoscope of times, places, moods and situations at breakneck speed. Hallström embraces the heartbreaking melodrama of the script by Malia Scotch Marmo (Hook, 1991), and does not shy away from confronting the tough emotional tangles of family life.

Once Around is a rare – not to say paradoxical – achievement: an unashamed tearjerker with a biting, truthful sentimentality. It will be intriguing to see where Hallström’s American career goes from here.

where Hallström’s career went, alas: Chocolat, The Cider House Rules

© Adrian Martin April 1991