KarateParty.org - I Love Trouble (1994)

Genres

1994

Directed by

Charles Shyer

Written by

Nancy Meyers & Charles Shyer

Cast

Nick Nolte .... Peter Brackett

Julia Roberts .... Sabrina Peterson

Saul Rubinek .... Sam Smotherman

James Rebhorn .... Mando, The Thin Man

Robert Loggia .... Matt, Chronicle Editor

Kelly Rutherford .... Kim

Olympia Dukakis .... Jeannie, Peter's Secretary

Marsha Mason .... Senator Gayle Robbins

Eugene Levy .... Ray, Justice of the Peace

I love the wise-cracking mystery movies of the 30s, 40s, and 50s. If someone wants to try and resurrect that genre I have no problems with that. I mean now, not 11 years ago when I Love Trouble came out and obviously failed to do so. The problem with I Love Trouble is that the writers Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer (who also directed) have made a perfectly serviceable film that doesn’t even come close enough to nailing the dialogue, wit, or sophistication of its inspirations.

Peter Brackett (Nick Nolte) is the number one columnist (and first-time novelist) for the Chicago Chronicle who’s been getting a bit complacent. Enter feisty reporter for the rival Chicago Globe, Sabrina Peterson (Julia Roberts). When Brackett is sent to report a train derailment (the first time he’s been a beat reporter in years) he finds himself out-scooped by Sabrina. Not accepting that some newcomer could out-scoop the great Peter Brackett, he scoops her back. Then she scoops him back, and a rivalry is born.

They soon find the story is bigger than they thought it was, and far more dangerous. The derailment is linked to a big chemical company, witnesses are being killed, people aren’t who they seem to be, and so on and so forth. With their lives in danger they form an uneasy partnership. And, of course, they fall in love.

I Love Trouble is a harmless enough time-waster, and that’s about all. It’s mildly amusing, mainly because Nick Nolte is likeable. Julia Roberts plays Julia Roberts, which is to say she isn’t much. But the two really aren’t helped by the script. In a lot of the great comedy-mysteries of the 30s, 40s and 50s the actual mystery was cursory (and was often considered an annoyance by the main characters). But here not only doesn’t the dialogue sparkle, but we actually get far more tedious details of the (pretty lame) mystery than we need. This sort of genre requires real inspiration to pull off, Meyers and Shyer are competent workmen, and that won’t do.

Here are a couple of examples. When Brackett and Peterson are trying to out-scoop each other Brackett pretends to drop a piece of paper with an address on it. Peterson, thinking she’s got lucky, drives to the address (which is in the middle of nowhere) only to find a flock of geese. "A wild goose chase" she says to the geese as she shakes her head. And, according to trivia on the Internet Movie Database, they actually imported 500 geese from Iowa to Wisconsin. For that!!! Second example. Brackett and Peterson are visiting significant but uninteresting minor character Sam Smotherman in the US House of Representatives. He offers to take them to lunch "on the House". Har-de-har-har.

And that’s one of the daggers in the heart of this film; the supporting characters stink. They’re not funny or interesting. If you’re going to make a throwback comedy-mystery the last thing you can have is characters who merely advance the plot. They have to be great enough that you wish they were in more of the movie. I Love Trouble only has one supporting character like that, Eugene Levy, who’s in the film for around 2 minutes running a Las Vegas wedding chapel. That is funny.

But other than him it’s all Nolte and Roberts. And that’s not really something you want to be saying about any movie. Nolte is amusing enough, but seriously too old for this role. There’s one embarrassing scene in a night club where a woman is checking him out from across the room and when it cuts to him he looks like he needs a seat and a cup of tea. I haven’t said much about Julia Roberts, but what is there to say? She’s average in a film that needs more. The real problem is as a pair, Nolte is 26 years older than Roberts. And if Meyers and Shyer should have learned anything from the classic comedy-mysteries, it’s that age mismatches work better in forgiving black and white.

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