Used People (1992)

38% of critics liked it
(13 reviews)
31% of users liked it
(172 ratings)

Todd Graff wrote the screenplay for this eccentric romantic comedy in the spirit of Moonstruck that exchanges pasta for matzo balls. The film takes place in Queens in 1969, where Pearl Berman (Shirley MacLaine) has just arrived back from the funeral of her husband. As her dysfunctional family… More Todd Graff wrote the screenplay for this eccentric romantic comedy in the spirit of Moonstruck that exchanges pasta for matzo balls. The film takes place in Queens in 1969, where Pearl Berman (Shirley MacLaine) has just arrived back from the funeral of her husband. As her dysfunctional family kvetches in the living room, the dapper Joe Meledandri (Marcello Mastroianni) arrives. It seems that Joe has admired Pearl from afar for a number of years, ever since he met her husband in a bar and persuaded him to return to his wife. He invites Pearl for coffee, provoking the wisecrack from her mother (Jessica Tandy): "She got picked up at her own husband's funeral." As Pearl is wooed by Joe, she has to deal with her lonely, overweight daughter Bibby (Kathy Bates) and her prettier daughter Norma (Marcia Gay Harden), who suffers from such a lack of self esteem that she assumes the personalities of Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy, and Bonnie Parker. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 55 min.
Directed By: Beeban Kidron
Genres: Comedy, Romance

In Theaters: Jun 1, 1992 Wide
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
A soap opera with suds, this meller gives a bad name to the woman's picture in its story of a Jewish widow-matriarch and her dysfunctional family (mom, two problematic daughters), thrown off its shaken balance when Mastroianni's Italian charmer arrives
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Well-observed but shapeless mainstream romantic comedy that reminds one of Moonstruck.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
An old-fashioned melodrama with equal doses of laughter and tears.
Dan Lybarger, Nitrate Online
Mastroianni and MacLaine are both fine, but the film is a little too cutesy for its own good.

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Cast

            Shirley MacLaine as Pearl Berman

            Kathy Bates as Bibby

            Jessica Tandy as Freida

            Marcello Mastroianni as Joe Meledandri

            Marcia Gay Harden as Norma

            Sylvia Sidney as Becky

            Joe Pantoliano as Frank

            Matthew Branton as Swee'Pea

            Bob Dishy as Jack Berman

            Charles Cioffi as Paolo

            Louis Guss as Uncle Normy

            Helen Hanft as Aunt Ruthie

            Irving Metzman as Uncle Al

            Doris Roberts as Aunt Lonnie

            Lee Wallace as Uncle Harry

            Ida Bemardini as Aunt Louisa

            Dominic Cuzzocrea as Rabbi

            Diane D'Aquila as Rose

            Gil Filar as Mark

            Maia Filar as Rhonda

            David Gow as Bill the Jeweler

            Luba Goy as Nursing Home Staff Member

            Sam Hutchinson as Crying Baby

            Genevieve Langlois as French Teacher

            Jim Millan as Priest

            Janet Richardson as Carla

            Michael Ricupero as Eddie

            Rosario Russo as Theresa

            Stuart Stone as Cousin Stevie

            Emma Tammi as Young Bibby

            Jeremy Trancz as Cousin Matthew

            Asia Vieira as Young Norma

            Stephanie Voves as Girl at Wedding

            Philip Williams as Vic

            Mary Colquhoun
            
See full cast

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