While the movie has been praised for showcasing a cinematically underused and disrespected age group, it also has the small-screen feel of a silly sitcom.
While the movie has been praised for showcasing a cinematically underused and disrespected age group, it also has the small-screen feel of a silly sitcom.
A handful of men and women "of a certain age" pick up the pieces of their lives and look for new love after the loss of their mates in this comedy drama from writer-director Susan Seidelman. Jack (Len Cariou) married his high school sweetheart when they were still in their teens, and when she dies in her early sixties, he is emotionally devastated. Jack's friends and family insist he needs to start living again, and he begins attending a support group for bereaved senior citizens. Jack strikes
up a friendship with fellow widower Harry (Joseph Bologna), who offers advice on making time with the ladies, something he's developed a strong interest in since his wife's passing. At their meetings, Jack makes the acquaintance of Sandy (Sally Kellerman), an attractive and intelligent woman who - via a number of obvious sexual advances - makes no secret of her attraction to Jack, though he isn't sure he's ready for a new relationship. Jack and Harry also cross paths with Sandy's friends Marilyn (Brenda Vaccaro), who recently lost her husband to an absent-minded driver with a cellular phone, and Lois (Dyan Cannon), who still flaunts her considerable sex appeal and is dating a younger man, Donald (Michael Nouri). Also screened as The Boynton Beach Bereavement Club, The Boynton Beach Club also stars Renee Taylor, Bologna's wife and frequent acting partner. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Seidelman maintains the narrow path between ridicule and dignity in a movie that dishes out humour even-handedly, but spares the characters total humiliation.
Replaces one set of clichés with another, and does what all lame comedies do to young and old alike: It robs them of their humanity and makes them cute.
It's life affirming, amusing and touching, as relationships struggle and blossom, while friendships form a rock-solid boost to newly imposed loneliness
Despite its best intentions, this seems like a hack job, a routine directing assignment shoved through its paces under the restrictions of a low budget.
Ultimately, the film comes off as a sexed-up cable episode of The Golden Girls, but it still offers amusing scenarios and likeable older characters of a sort too seldom seen on modern movie screens.
The achievement of Boynton Beach Club is to remind moviegoers that there are huge portions of the population who never appear on-screen and that they have interesting lives, too.
The movie is funny without disrespecting its characters. But there is a sadness at its heart, because, although the possibilities for romantic happiness diminish after the age of 65, the dynamics of sexual attraction and coupling never change.
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