The Favor (1994)

They say you can't miss what you never had, but one woman wants to put that idea to the test in this romantic comedy entitled,The Favor.It stars Harley Jane Kozak,Elizabeth McGovern,Bill Pullman and Brad Pitt.The movie was written by Sara Parriott and Josann McGibbon, and directed by Donald Petrie.Kathy has seemingly been happily married to Peter, but their relationship has grown routine. She cannot help but wonder what would happen if she ever got together with her high school sweetheart, Tom, who she had never slept with. Being married prevents her from acting on that, so she asks her friend, Emily, to look Tom up when she goes to Denver, and to sleep with him, then tell Kathy what it was like. Emily does this, but when she tells Kathy that Tom is awesome and they had sex all night, their friendship suffers, as does Kathy's marriage. Things become even more complicated when Emily learns she is pregnant, and is uncertain if Tom or her boyfriend, Elliot is the father.This is a poorly made movie.It started at first as smart and intriguing.Suddenly,it made a U-turn and turned into a screwball comedy.The only redeeming thing about it is it features Brad Pitt in his early work before he became a superstar.

An amusing bit of fluff for a "chick flick." Guys, this is a good date movie! Enough Brad Pitt and silly love crap for them, but amusing enough for us. No gratuitous nudity but HEY, you can't have everything. An unknown actress named Harley Jane Kozak is the star of this film, portraying every man's dream wife - sexy, intelligent, feisty and funny (all in a charmingly unpredictable package) - while at the same time being a great mother. It is sad that Kozak soon gave up acting for good to raise her own family. Watching this film makes me believe she deserved better than obscurity. As usual, Brad Pitt displays the talent that would soon make him a superstar, and Bill Pullman also gives a decent performance. The least talented of the four major players is Elizabeth McGovern. She doesn't necessarily give a bad performance, but rather fails to make the role her own. She could have easily been replaced by any other competent actress without altering the chemistry between the characters. Perhaps another actress would have turned in a more memorable performance. McGovern is one of those actresses of whom most people have heard, and yet few can name anything she has ever been in. As usual with movies aimed toward a female audience, the plot is silly and at times nonsensical. As always, at least one man has to be portrayed as a manipulative scumbag with one thing on his mind while all the female characters are decent and loving and emotionally complex. Thankfully though, this film doesn't take itself too seriously. All in all, despite being a "chick flick," this movie is worth watching - perhaps even twice.

Kathy (Harley Jane Kozak) is married to Peter (Pullman) with two kids. However she fantasizes over a college boyfriend. As a favour her friend Emily (Elizabeth McGovern) looks him up on a trip to Denver and comes back with tales of this powerful, beautiful man. This immediately causes a rift between them which is resolved when Emily falls pregnant to steady lover Elliot (Brad Pitt). At this point the plot of college boyfriends takes a sideline to the plot of Emily's pregnancy.This starts off as a curiosity with it being funny to see stars like Brad Pitt and Bill Pullman in a less than starry production. However it is quite amusing for the most. The main problem with this is that it doesn't seem to want to settle on one plot - there's the Kathy fantasy, the Emily pregnancy, the Emily/Tom affair, the Kathy/Peter marriage, the Peter/Joe suspecting affair piece. There's so much going on that it gets a little disjoined and it's difficult to follow one cohesive story. Sure there's links between them all but it still makes for a film with no clear direction.The story is the main weakness, as everything else is pretty good. The performances are all touched with a sense of fun that adds to the comic atmosphere of the film. However once all the storylines come in it's difficult to keep that element, especially near the end where the stories begin to come together and a lot of the resolutions begin to come together due to coincidence as much as anything else.It's also difficult to believe that Emily wouldn't jump at the chance of being with Brad Pitt, or that Pullman would get so confused over the situation, never mind the fact that Kathy's dream lover looks like Billy Ray Cyrus - who would fall of that?!What starts as an inoffensive comedy becomes overly complicated and relies on the type of solutions that would be more at home in a TV sitcom rather than a film. It's a shame because the rest is not as bad as you could have been. Oh - and it's spelt with an 'U' by the way.

An adorable romantic comedy directed by Donald Petrie (Mystic Pizza, Grumpy Old Men). Great Music with a lot of blues and Ray Charles! Bill Pullman (While you Were Sleeping, Zero Effect) is Peter who is happily married to gorgeous Kathy Whiting, Harley Jane Kozak (When Harry Met Sally) has a Cinderella Complex. Although she is happily married, she has fantasies about an old boy friend whom she had a relationship with. There was no final closure, and hopes that one day he will show up in his plaid shirt, and they will gallivant off on his white horse into the horizon. She is always day dreaming about this guy. Emily, Elizabeth McGovern (Ordinary People, The Misadventures of Margaret) is Kathy best friend. Kathy asks Emily to look up her old boyfriend. Emily is an alter ego of Kathy, who is living through her. Painter Elliott Brad Pitt (A River Runs Through It, Legends of the Fall) is Emily ‘s boy-friend, who is ten years younger than her. This is a situation comedy where the one is thinking one thing and expecting something to happen but something completely different happens. That is what makes this movie funny! It is a comedy of errors!Favorite Quotes:"I was kind of happy, in a miserable kind of way. Is that worse than being miserable in a happy kind of way? "; "I like sleeping, it makes the years go by faster."; "You are like a disease you invade someone's life and attack yourself." Favorite scenes: Peter playing the harmonica, Kathy in her red dress and high heels getting stuck in the cracks, Elliot getting punched twice in the face for no reason at all. This is just a fun, hilarious unpretentious comedy! I have the tape and enjoy watching it! Just plain fun.