ALAN ALDA has sharpened the humor and tense situations that occur when three middle-aged couples decide to take vacations together through the four seasons, with some unexpected results. Most of the mishaps are on the funny side and there's a lot of wisecracking between the couples, some of which sounds an awful lot like TV situation stuff. CAROL BURNETT scores nicely as Alda's wife, adept as he is with one-liners.
But it's all done in a light-hearted way with the seasons bridged nicely by some transitional Vivaldi music. The story is how one couple (LEN CARIOU and SANDY DENNIS) is marked for divorce, which sets up the theme of antagonism toward the new woman entering the friendship circle and being mistreated out of spite. The new woman is played well by BESS ARMSTRONG and stand-outs among the other couples are RITA MORENO and JACK WESTON, as a bickering couple in the mold of Fred and Ethel Mertz.
The seasons are beautifully photographed and the tightly knit story structure makes the whole thing a pleasure to watch. Written and directed by Alan Alda, it's certainly a feather in his cap.
But it's all done in a light-hearted way with the seasons bridged nicely by some transitional Vivaldi music. The story is how one couple (LEN CARIOU and SANDY DENNIS) is marked for divorce, which sets up the theme of antagonism toward the new woman entering the friendship circle and being mistreated out of spite. The new woman is played well by BESS ARMSTRONG and stand-outs among the other couples are RITA MORENO and JACK WESTON, as a bickering couple in the mold of Fred and Ethel Mertz.
The seasons are beautifully photographed and the tightly knit story structure makes the whole thing a pleasure to watch. Written and directed by Alan Alda, it's certainly a feather in his cap.