I Love Trouble. - movie reviews

National Review, August 15, 1994 by John Simon

If there is such a thing as an archetypal summer movie, it is one that provides sustained, undemanding entertainment and blends seamlessly with the air conditioning. Such a one, though hardly a prime specimen, is I Love Trouble. It seems to be a tribute to the William Powell-Myrna Loy pictures wherein the sophisticated team of Nick and Nora Charles solved crimes amid witty spousal sparring. Here, however, it is the director and the scriptwriter, Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers, who are married, and though there is a Nick (Nolte) in the cast, the whole thing is only a shadow of, say, Shadow of the Thin Man. We have Mr. Nolte, the brilliant but jaded columnist at one Chicago paper, and Julia Roberts, the plucky cub reporter at the other one, on the trail of a corrupt chemical corporation that may have a formula for enhancing milk production but is speedily thinning the numbers of those involved with it.

The film begins with a suspicious train wreck being covered by both Mr. Nolte and Miss Roberts; no sooner do they meet than the taunts and quips start flying. They're not the wittiest taunts and quips, but Miss Roberts and Mr. Nolte field them well: it's like a tennis game with worn-down balls played by expert players. The plot is serviceable. The two journalists start out as cutthroat rivals for the scoop and progress to being uneasy partners who double-cross each other whenever they can. Then, as people around them start dropping, and they themselves hurtle from one mortal peril to the next, they become genuine allies. Finally, after reiterated protestations of mutual sexual indifference and repeated lapses into its opposite, they end up drolly united. Old hat? Surely, but if the hat fits ...

Mr. Shyer and Miss Meyers commit a number of sins against logic, but they know how to concoct creepy or scary situations and keep the audience involved, if not exactly riveted. The stars come to their rescue. Nick Nolte, who used to be a blunt instrument, has evolved a sprightly looseness and a saving twinkle; he now seems as agile mentally as he is flexible physically. Julia Roberts proves yet again that she is not only one of the prettiest of women (the minor flaws merely humanizing her beauty), but also a genuine actress. And Mr. Nolte's breezy blondness and Miss Roberts's suave darkness complement each other handily.

There are well-chosen supporting actors, action that races to all kinds of photogenic or odd locations, dark hints of shady dealings in Washington, a neat score by David Newman, and a few authentic jolts. You may not love I Love Trouble, but you'll have no trouble sailing through it on an otherwise somnolent summer evening.