Town & Country (2001)

	Directed by: Peter Chelsom	COUNTRY USA GENRE Comedy/Drama NORWEGIAN TITLE Town & Country RUNNING TIME 104 minutes
	Produced by: Simon Fields Andrew S. Karsch Fred Roos
	Written by: Michael Laughlin Buck Henry

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Porter Stoddard	Warren Beatty
Ellie Stoddard	Diane Keaton
Eugenie Claybourne	Andie MacDowell	½
Griffin Miller	Garry Shandling
Auburn	Jenna Elfman
Alex	Nastassja Kinski	½
Mona Miller	Goldie Hawn
Eugenie's Father	Charlton Heston	½
Tom Stoddard	Josh Hartnett
Alice Stoddard	Tricia Vessey

Review

Town & Country is a great example of how bad publicity can ruin not only a film's box office performance, but also its critical reception and subsequent reputation. I won't claim that critics are biased, but I will claim that the troubled period between shooting of Town & Country started in 1998 until it was finally released in 2001 didn't help the overall reception of the film.

Starting off by falling into line: the film is somewhat abruptly edited, it is largely silly, and the script is a bit all over the place. Yet the two latter points do more good than harm for Town & Country. The carefree lack of a thin red thematic thread here does wonders for its little discussions, which otherwise easily could have come off as something pulled from a static production line. A situational comedy about sex and infidelity is something we've seen before – but not quite like this, with ageing swan-song-singing stars, with illogicalities and peculiarities like dancing polar bears and swearing old ladies in wheelchairs, and with numerous tasteless and inconceivable segments that freshen up this amusing little film. And yes, this is a little film – no matter how much it cost. It's also a film with spirit, albeit a wavering one.