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Movies / On DVD / Once Around
Once Around

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Once Around (1991)

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Reviews Counted:17

Fresh:11

Rotten:6

Average Rating:5.8/10

Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins

Genre: Comedies

Synopsis: Insightful, moving performances make ONCE AROUND, Lasse Hallstrom's family comedy-drama, a unique and memorable film. The Bella family is a close as any--maybe too close. Sisters Jan (Laura San... Insightful, moving performances make ONCE AROUND, Lasse Hallstrom's family comedy-drama, a unique and memorable film. The Bella family is a close as any--maybe too close. Sisters Jan (Laura San Giacomo) and Renata (Holly Hunter) are together on the day of Jan's wedding. Jan is marrying her dream man (Tim Guinee), yet still carrying on an affair with another man (Jim Redstone), while Renata has just faced the reality that her live-in boyfriend (Griffin Dunne) will never marry her. Renata soon finds herself living at home again, and regressing easily into the role of the failed but beloved daughter to smart, beautiful Marilyn (Gena Rowlands) and fair-minded Joe (Danny Aiello). Vowing to pull her life together, she takes a new job selling condo timeshares on the island of St. Thomas. There, she meets arrogant, gregarious, and overconfident Sam Sharpe (Richard Dreyfuss), a super salesman from a Lithuanian family, who is as madly in love with her as she is with him. It is this dedicated, loving, and eccentric relationship that, ironically, begins to pull the close-knit Bellas apart. What lies ahead for all is a complex patchwork of familial disharmony, undying loyalty, cultural tradition, tragedy, and triumph. The interplay between family members, their closeness and resentments, permeate an unusual story with characters that are each unique and unforgettable. [More]

Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, Laura San Giacomo, Danny Aiello

Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, Laura San Giacomo, Danny Aiello, Gena Rowlands, Tim Guinee, Roxanne Hart, Danton Stone, Greg Germann

Director: Lasse Hallstrom

Director: Lasse Hallstrom
Screenwriter: Lasse Hallström
Producer: Griffin Dunne, Amy Robinson
Composer: James Horner

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Dec 28, 2004

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Reviews for Once Around

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Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/26/09
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Dreyfuss and Hunter can't save what is a sappy and grating melodrama.

comment Comment
07/13/07
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Film Threat

A wonderfully charming, true-to-life comedy-drama that was one of 1991's best and most overlooked films.

comment Comment
07/05/07
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
FulvueDrive-in.com

One of Richard Dreyfuss's best films....lovely stuff

comment Comment
02/07/06
Clint Morris
Clint Morris
Film Threat

This rather overbearing romantic comedy is by no means a disaster.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Trevor Johnston
Trevor Johnston
Time Out

No review available.

comment Comment
06/27/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

comment Comment
04/27/04
Mike McGranaghan
Mike McGranaghan
Aisle Seat

No review available.

comment Comment
09/05/03
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

No review available.

comment Comment
03/27/03
Jeffrey Westhoff
Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

No review available.

comment Comment
01/30/03
Michael Szymanski
Michael Szymanski
Zap2it.com

No review available.

comment Comment
08/29/02
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

No review available.

comment Comment
07/26/02
Bob Grimm
Bob Grimm
Las Vegas Mercury

No review available.

comment Comment
07/26/02
Scott Weinberg
Scott Weinberg
eFilmCritic.com

Ethnic romances from Abie's Irish Rose to Moonstruck have traveled similar ground, but few have handled the role of family in a marriage more poignantly than Once Around.

Full Review Source: Rolling Stone | comment Comment
05/12/01
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

On the whole Once Around is strangely enervating, proof that family problems -- even those of fictional families -- are often best kept behind closed doors.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
01/01/00
John F. Kelly
John F. Kelly
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Comedy-drama has more to it than it may at first seem.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Mark R. Leeper
Mark R. Leeper
rec.arts.movies.reviews

There is no there there, just the dead red glow of the beckoning Exit light.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
01/01/00
Rita Kempley
Rita Kempley
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The first movie in a long time to leave me speechless.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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