Bye Bye Baby (1988) Poster

(1988)

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3/10
Horrible plot and acting, but good eye candy
Yourfriendan27 March 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Two very attractive and sexy women as well as a great soundtrack are the only things that make this god awful piece of crap watchable.

The plot is really stupid and boring as it involves Sandra (Alt) and Paolo (Barbareschi) who get divorced. Sandra begins a romance with a fellow doctor (Connery), while Paolo hooks up with a professional pool player (Nielsen). Sandra and Paolo find they are still attracted to one another and try to hook their lovers up with each other while simultaneously seeing them themselves and it just goes back and forth as they spend the entire movie going back and forth between lovers and in the end, nothing is really settled.

Basically it's an hour and a half of lover swapping between two Italian guys and two really hot women. The acting is terrible, half the time you can't make out what's being said, and there's just very little good to say about it other than a couple of really great 80's songs are in there and of course the two very attractive female leads. But if your're looking for a reason to watch this movie, I really can't give you one.
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Crazy couples, crazy story
inkblot1128 September 2004
Sandra (Carol Alt) has a rousing fight with her Italian husband, Paolo, and kicks him out of the house. They divorce. She seeks solace in the arms of a fellow doctor named Marcello while Paolo becomes involved with an accomplished pool player named Lisa (Brigitte Nielsen). Yet, time and again, even on vacation, Sandra and Paolo find they are still attracted to one another. The fighting continues, however. What's a couple to do?

This is one mixed-up movie. The plot is an indescribable slapdash concoction where Sandra and Paolo fight and make-up till the cows come home.

Of course, Alt and Nielsen are lovely to look at and the male leads are equally attractive. But, alas, the movie can hardly succeed on looks alone. Or can it? For those individuals who make a habit of searching for unknown romance films or for those who merely like to see beautiful people on the screen, this one is for you!
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5/10
Can't stay heart-broken for long.
lost-in-limbo21 February 2015
Warning: Spoilers
A simple, airy topsy-turvy look at relationships, which have elements a little too close to reality, but it's broken up by crazy situations and the desire to be with the one you love. A slightly amusing Italian romantic-comedy that's all a bunch of commotion and headed by beautiful looking actors / actresses. The stunning Brigitte Nielsen was the main reason I decided to give this one a look, but Carol Alt was rather easy on the eyes too.

Paolo and Sandra have been married for a few years, but lately they have been fighting to the point they inevitably break-up, as they start the process of divorce. Paolo meets up with Lisa whilst Sandra finds comfort in close friend Marcella, who has always been in love with her. One day they meet up again, where their passion is reborn, but she realizes Paolo is still the same selfish man and fighting begins. However Paolo can't let go of Sandra, so he goes after her even though he's still stringing along Lisa.

Nielsen's character is a professional pool player and this inclusion seems oddly placed in the story, while Jason Connery plays Marcella whose affection for Sandra is obvious, despite being a work college. Some of the plot threads are downright silly, like the two couples going on holidays, to end up at the same resort. The performances are spot on, but it's really hard to care for Luca Barabareschi and Carol Alt's characters. As they really have no regards to anyone else, but themselves as seen in the opening quarrel. And especially how they continue to see one another on and off, while still with significant others. It can get repetitive, but it's strangely hypnotic thanks to the performances more than anything else.
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6/10
A bit too true to life
J-bot626 July 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Where to begin.

Well, even though I've checked the "contains spoilers" box, I'm mentioning it here, too. THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS.

The plot is pretty convoluted, and takes place over around four years.

Essentially, there's a dodgy guy named Paolo who is a bit like a child who lies and manipulates to get what he wants. He's going through a divorce with the gullible Sandra.

Then there's Marcello -- the man of integrity. You can guess what happens to him.

Finally, there's Lisa (the quintessential blond 80s New Wave femme fatale). She's the girl that Paolo hooks up with after Sandra rightly kicks him out in the beginning.

After awhile, it's almost painful to watch how Paolo lays on the lies to Sandra. The most painful part is how she believes it again and again. Logic just doesn't apply. But, how often does logic apply in love (although you'd think she'd wise up). Eventually, Paolo's B.S. routine gets to be almost as over-the-top as a Peter Sellers monologue. It becomes sickly comical.

Just when you start to think that the writer is casting women as gullible fools, Lisa proves to be the opposite. She doesn't put up with any crap, and has a short (yet satisfying) scene near the end of the film.

I found this film to be disturbing, in the sense that it is very accurate to the way many people manipulate and are susceptible to manipulation in relationships.

So, if you want to see some eye-candy, and beat your head against the wall each time Sandra buys what Paolo sells, check this film out.

And as far as gaffes go, there's a scene at the hospital between Sandra and Marcello, in which it appears that the lines for Sandra's speech contain a quickly covered error. Was it to make the characters more 'real' or was it a lack of time in the shooting / editing process -- you decide.
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Introducing Carol Alt
lor_11 April 2023
My review was written in July 1989 after watching the film on Prism video cassette.

Carol Alt makes a good impression toplining in "Bye Bye Baby", the first of her series of recent Italian films to be released theatrically in the U. S. Unfortunately, the romantic comedy is too corny to score a breakthrough.

Alt plays a Milanese doctor married to rich guy Luca Barbareschi, their marriage seemingly breaking up with a fight during the opening credits (as Marilyn Monroe sings "Bye Bye Baby" from "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" on the tv).

After dallying romantically with friend of the family Alba Parietti, Barbareschi takes up with sexy billiards player Brigitte Nielsen, while Alt becomes involved with fellow doctor Jason Connery. Pic skips along at several-year intervals charting the couple's reconciliations and breakups, usually accompanied by rainstorms. Chief gimmick involves Barbareschi' hokey attempts, during a vacation at Club Med in Mauritius, to fix up Connery with Nielsen so that he can ride off into the sunset with his estranged wife.

Excellent handling of English dialog by the entire principal cast makes this way above par for an Italian production aiming at mid-Atlantic audiences. Unfortunately, that dialog is frequently pretentious or old-fashioned, missing the wit of its Hollywood forebears.

Cast can't be faulted, with Alt a glamorous and feisty heroine, matched by Barbareschi's shaggy dog appeal. Nielsen is far more natural in her acting and delivery than in her U. S. films, though she doesn't come across convincingly at the dramatic climax (when she finds out Barbareschi has been two-timing her). Connery, son of Diane Cilento and Sean Connery, adds to the idealized look aimed for by filmmaker Enrico Oldoini.

Lensing by Giuseppe Ruzzolini is quite pretty, with okay songs warbled by Phyllis Rhodes and Nielsen on the soundtrack.
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