Cinema: Clayburgh's Double Feature

(3 of 3)

Clayburgh's character is such a bundle of ill-defined contradictions that she takes uneasy refuge in Diane Keaton's Annie Hall mannerisms. She and Reynolds are both too pallid to re-create the heady sexual chemistry of Semi-Tough. Thanks to a sharply drawn role, Bergen fares better: the ex-wife is a latent songwriter whose banal pop anthems to feminism un intentionally satirize the excesses of the Me decade. When the glamorous Bergen shrieks one of her well-meaning but ludicrous hit songs, we can see just how sad, painful and funny this incorrigibly mild movie might have been.