Love Field

Stars: Michelle Pfeiffer (Batman Returns, Frankie and Johnny, Married to the Mob), Dennis Haysbert (Navy SEALS, Major League, Mr. Baseball). Shelved when Orion had financial troubles, and then rush-released to court Oscar consideration (Pfeiffer was nominated for Best Actress), Love Field lacked the marketing push needed to make a dent in theaters, and therefore drew less than a million dollars at the boxoffice. Set in 1963, the film stars Pfeiffer as Lurene Hallett, a Jackie Kennedy wannabe who misses meeting her idol at the Dallas airport on November 22 (the eponymous "Love Field"), and learns of the assassination on the way home. She decides to travel back east for the funeral. On the bus trip, Lurene meets and befriends a quiet Black man named Paul Cater (Dennis Haysbert) and his daughter Jonell. When Lurene mistakenly interprets Paul's mysterious behavior as criminal, she calls the F.B.I.--a move she soon realizes is a major goof. To escape the law, the trio leave the bus, steal a car in Tennessee, and head north. Love Field has several problems: the story takes way too long to set up, the second half of the film features a series of implausible plot turns, Pfeiffer's character is uninteresting (she's not funny ditzy, she's one-dimensional, the-Kennedy's-are-my-only-topic-of-conversation, ditzy), and Haybert's character is woefully underdeveloped (he spends half the film wearing a tight-lipped determined look). Lacking dramatic punch, needed humor, or believable story, it's questionable whether a big marketing blitz would have made a hit out of Love Field, even given Pfeiffer's creditable performance in an unappealing role. Audience: Pfeiffer's presence will draw some, but the film is simply average in most other respects.