Don't Tell Her It's Me (1990)

I associate Steve Guttenberg with B-movies. However, I thought he actually did a very credible job in "Don't Tell Her It's Me." I especially liked his portrayal of the bald and bloated Gus."Don't Tell Her It's Me" is also on TV and DVD as "The Boyfriend School," which is also the title of the very funny book by Sarah Bird on which the movie is based. Sarah Bird also is credited with the screenplay for the film, which appears to have been her first attempt to write for the film industry. I am guessing that she accepted too many suggestions from people with more film experience than she had, because the movie is so below the quality of the book. Someone even convinced her to change the title, although later it was changed back to the book's title.The film begins with a clever, if not original, device of restarting the movie when the narrator, Lizzie Potts (Shelley Long), a best-selling romance novel author, changes her mind about what she is composing in her mind. Her mind drifts to her younger brother, Gus (Steve Guttenberg), who we learn is a cartoonist. Gus is recovering after finishing 2-years of treatments, for Hodgkin's Disease, that caused him temporarily to be bloated and hairless. We see some of Gus' cartoons about his medical exams in animated form. This part of the movie I liked. The film went downhill from there.Lizzie is concerned that Gus never had much of a social life and his medical problems aggravated his poor interaction with people his age, so she fixes him up with Emily (Jami Gertz), an intelligent and attractive but nerdy reporter she meets at a book signing. Emily tells Lizzie she would love to meet a man who is sensitive and cares about her. She claims that physicality doesn't matter. However, after Lizzie, her husband, Emily and Gus meet for a disastrous dinner, Emily rejects Gus because he is not physically attractive.Lizzie decides she needs to shape Gus into every girl's dream date using her considerable knowledge of what her young female readers seek in a man. The rest of the movie is a predictable story of Gus changing, assuming a more exotic identity, and Emily becoming in love with his assumed persona. Of course the crisis is that eventually he has to reveal who he really is.My problem with the film is several stale and sophomoric bits of humor that have little to do with advancing the plot. This includes a scene where Emily fills her mouth with some bad-tasting strange-looking exotic food at the dinner party. It is missing whatever humor made the original book such a success. In addition, someone decided to tack on incidental music that sounds like Muzak and doesn't even fit the tempo of the on-screen action. I also found myself dreading the few times Mitchell, Lizzy's husband, appeared. He was supposed to be a funny character. I found him irritating, not funny.

I enjoyed the movie immensely and would buy it were it available. The premise is arresting: a young man recovering from a near-fatal illness that has removed him from the mainstream of life for years. He meets a young woman who is unattainable for a quiet man. He creates a persona that appears somewhat dangerous and interesting for her and wins her ... then is faced with the problem of resolving appearance with fact. The actors are appealing: Guttenberg is touching as the recovering patient, Long is annoying but loyal as the bossy sister, and Gertz turns lovable as the target of Guttenberg's affections.

Lightweight romance would have been better with stronger leads. Jami Gertz is OK, especially since the female role isn't particularly interesting. The biggest problem with this is Steve Guttenberg. He is a likable actor, but has next to no sex appeal, at least in this role. The alter-ego, "Lobo," comes off as completely ridiculous in his hands. Outside of him, though, the film is pretty good. This is one of Shelley Long's best performances--she's much better as a supporting player where her oddball and sometimes offputting personality doesn't have to carry the emotional baggage. Also excellent (as usual) is Beth Grant; she is one of my favorite current character actresses (make sure you see "Sordid Lives"). All in all, this is an OK Sunday afternoon movie, but I wouldn't go to too much trouble to see it.

This movie is the worst, most pathetic 'comedy' I have ever been subjected to! It is dull as hell, and you don't even care about the characters! This movie is cliched, boring and stupid! My review would be more indepth, but words can'r fully express how bad this movie is!