Modern Romance

Mr. Obsessive-Neurotic, Albert Brooks followed up his 1979 feature debut Real Life with this wonderful 1981 romantic comedy, in which he stars as film editor Robert Cole, a schlub who breaks up with his girlfriend Mary (Kathryn Harrold)—not for the first time—and then suffers the proverbial tortures of the damned. Wallowing in self-pity, Robert obsesses over reuniting with Mary and then throws it all away when he goes bonkers over an unknown long-distance number on Mary's phone bill. Although Brooks' dialogue and signature deadpan delivery are consistently funny (when Robert tells a colleague played by the late Bruno Kirby that his sex life is good with Mary but they can't really talk, the latter asks, “do you need to talk?), the magic of Modern Romance is that it carries a palpable strain of pathos—yes, Robert is a nightmare on two legs, but you can't help but hope that things will work out. Look for George Kennedy in a low-budget sci-fi flick that Robert is editing, and James L. Brooks (no relation), who would direct Albert in Broadcast News, as a Hollywood director. Boasting an excellent transfer, but no DVD extras, this is recommended. (K. Lee Benson)