JACK SMIGHT

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BB. 

USA, 1980.  Time Life Films.  Screenplay by Martin Donovan. Cinematography by Philip H. Lathrop.  Produced by Renee Valente.  Music by Fred Karlin.  Production Design by Bill Harp.  Costume Design by Theoni V. Aldredge, Arnold Scaasi.  Film Editing by Frank J. Urioste. 

Couple swapping is yet again the subject of a romantic comedy, and this one barely rises above the quality of forgettable drivel. Shirley MacLaine plays a successful doctor whose surgeon husband (James Coburn) can barely be bothered to make time for her. When a handsome, womanizing patient (Stephen Collins) starts making eyes at her, she goes for him in a big way and eventually kicks her husband out of the house. Coburn, meanwhile, meets Collins’ gorgeous girlfriend (Susan Sarandon), and their mutual feelings of jilt have them hook up as well. From there the outcome is predictable (if it wasn’t already), but if you’re a big enough fan of anyone involved you won’t have any trouble bearing the mundaneness of it. MacLaine looks fantastic, and she and Collins enjoy some good chemistry, while Coburn looks a lot sillier flashing his gleaming teeth at Sarandon all the time (who plays the most inept reporter I’ve ever seen in my life).