If you want evidence of why people who work together should not become romantically involved, then this film is perfect evidence of that. I probably laughed at the scene where Elizabeth Perkins throws a cup and hit Kevin Bacon in the head on the air at the beginning of this film, but 30 years later, it is very disturbing. I began watching everything each character did to analyze who I thought was right and who I thought was wrong, and it brought me back to that social media cliche where people write "If you don't agree with me, then you're part of the problem". But this is long before social media, even though it's definitely long after the fight for equal gender rights began.
Certainly the character played by Kevin Bacon is charming and funny and likable, giving an honest view that shows how decent a conservative man can be, especially from obviously liberal writers. Perkins on the other hand is extremely liberal, annoyingly so sometimes, and it seems through his telling of their story that she argues against him regardless of her real point of view. It's difficult to like her as she tends to be passively aggressive while he is aggressively passive at times, but it becomes very frustrating to try to find a fair balance and see all the aspects of her.
He's more of an enjoyable character to watch, and while his flaws are obvious, he is not seemingly always looking for a fight, while she seems to be trying to control every situation which either starts fights or causes him to back down which causes her to want to continue the fight. She wakes up in the middle of the night while he's in pain and has a craving for cheesecake and insists that he has a craving for cheesecake too. Everything she says in social situations seems to be pushing towards the subject of marriage, and they barely get along at work so how would they even get along by tying the knot? Their differences are so overwhelming, why would they even consider it?
Something tells me that some young men and women who went to see this on a date night probably did not see each other afterwards, and perhaps in preventing disasters, this film accomplished something. You are forced to watch each situation as the first half is Bacon's point of view and the second half is Perkins' time. I too got sick of Bacon's repetitive Uncle Olaf story (I'd rather hear a St. Olaf story), but I also got sick of the gender bashing from both sides.
This is the type of film that was not meant to be a box-office Blockbuster, just bring in a nice profit, and continuing to make money when it went to Home Video. It has some nice supporting performances, and the older Jewish couple who lives next door to Perkins and Bacon are definite scene-stealers. Sharon Stone and Nathan Lane have smaller roles and are basically wasted.
I know this is allegedly based on real life circumstances surrounding the real life directing team I never heard of after (Ken Kwapis and Marissa Silver), but they did not do gender relationships any favors by putting their issues out there even is a comedy for everybody to see. They were messed up enough before and certainly haven't gotten better, so I have to describe this as a basically unpleasant comedy that I won't suffer through again.
