The Simian Line (2000)

17% of critics liked it
(18 reviews)
46% of users liked it
(111 ratings)

Director Linda Yellen spins this study of four couples as they struggle to maintain their relationships. Middle-aged divorcée and landlord Katharine (Lynn Redgrave) is completely smitten with her live-in lover Rick (Harry Connick, Jr.). She loves throwing parties, and on one Halloween she hosts a… More Director Linda Yellen spins this study of four couples as they struggle to maintain their relationships. Middle-aged divorcée and landlord Katharine (Lynn Redgrave) is completely smitten with her live-in lover Rick (Harry Connick, Jr.). She loves throwing parties, and on one Halloween she hosts a dinner for some wildly dissimilar guests: her tenets Sandra (Cindy Crawford) and Paul (Jamey Sheridan) are conservative professionals, while fellow building dwellers Marta (Monica Keena) and Billy (Dylan Bruno) are rock musicians. Also at the party is wacky psychic Arnita (Tyne Daly). During dinner, Arnita sees the spirits of another couple: Mae (Samantha Mathis), a flapper from the 1920s, and Katharine's great-grandfather Edward (William Hurt). Unnerved, Arnita predicts that one couple will split up by year's end. Though initially shaken, the guests brush her off as a nut. Yet toward the year's end, Katharine grows increasingly jealousy of Rick's flirtation with Sandra. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 46 min.
Directed By: Linda Yellen
Written By: Gisela Bernice, Linda Yellen
Genres: Drama, Comedy

In Theaters: Jan 15, 2000 Wide
On DVD: Feb 21, 2006
Studio: Gabriel Film Group

Critic Reviews

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
It's a banal little indie ensemble comedy.
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer
It's partly the characters and partly the performers who are responsible for generating more feelings in the afterlife than the film's Weehawken Six achieve in here and now.
Gene Seymour, Newsday
The story, such as it is, is hackneyed mush of the most contrived and patronizing kind.
Jonathan Foreman, New York Post
One of those exercises in romantic whimsy that misses its mark: It's alternately sappy and uncomfortably harsh.
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
Reveals [Yellen's] mastery of artifice and theatricality in the service of eliciting genuine emotion and insight into human nature.
Stephen Holden, New York Times
A muddy, cliché-ridden sudsfest that lurches uncertainly between comedy and soap opera without finding its emotional or visual footing.
Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
Somewhere buried deep lurks a potentially interesting film.
Bruce Feld, Film Journal International
It is like an anthology that offers only one story that clicks.
MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher
We grownups need more of this kind of silly, sweet, knowing romantic movie.
Dave White, IFilm
In the end it's simply weak.
, E! Online
See it now or wait for cable? It's a fine Line.
Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide
The results here are decidedly mixed.
Luke Y. Thompson, New Times
It's telling ... that the most compelling performance in the film comes from Cindy Crawford, making her long-unawaited return to film after 1995's Fair Game.
Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
You might think Weehawken is the epitome of dorkdom after the chimpanzee-less Line makes you choke on its old-fashioned, spiritless dust.
Harvey S. Karten, Compuserve
A low-key entertaining comedy about four couples who fear losing their partners to others.