It’s My Turn

Directed by Claudia Weill, It’s My Turn follows a college professor (Jill Clayburgh’s Kate Gunzinger) as she falls for a hunky ex-baseball player (Michael Douglas’ Ben) during a weekend wedding getaway – despite the fact that she’s already involved with a divorcé named Homer (Charles Grodin). It’s agreeably familiar subject matter that’s employed to basically watchable yet relentlessly uneven effect by Weill, as the filmmaker, armed with a script by Eleanor Bergstein, delivers an erratically-paced endeavor that’s rarely, if ever, as peppy or lighthearted as its opening stretch might’ve indicated – with the movie seguing into a hit-and-miss midsection rife with overlong, padded-out scenes and sequences (eg Kate and Homer have this long, drawn-out discussion that feels a little endless). There’s little doubt, then, that It’s My Turn benefits substantially from the winning work of its various performers, as Clayburgh and Douglas’ predictably compelling efforts are matched by an eclectic supporting cast that includes Dianne Wiest, Steven Hill, and Charles Kimbrough. (It doesn’t hurt, either, that the chemistry between Clayburgh and Douglas’ respective characters is downright palpable.) By the time the satisfying (albeit somewhat abrupt) finale rolls around, It’s My Turn has confirmed its place as a decent-enough piece of work that feels like it could (and should) be quite a bit better.

**1/2 out of ****