Jacy Farrow(Cybill Shepherd)returns to Texasville where she was the homecoming queen for the town's celebrated Cintennial. Automatically old feelings are bound to return, though middle age has shaped Duane Jackson(Jeff Bridges)into a man who buries most of his feelings, yet he isn't prone to conflict. This film rarely has any outbursts despite the adulteries both Duane and his wife Karla(Annie Potts)are having on the side. Their marriage is one of many things focused on in this character study which can bring a multitude of emotions thanks in part to a cast who forms complex performances to the forefront. Returning from the original are Ruth Popper(Cloris Leachman)still very much in love with Sonny(Timothy Bottoms)who is slowly losing his grip on reality seeing things from the past which aren't there to anyone but him. Ruth is under the employ of Duane whose oil business is drowning in debt. Lester(Randy Quaid)is a banker now, Genevieve(Eileen Brennan)is still around as a gal Duane and others can chit chat with. Duane has a son, Dickie(William McNamara)who frequently dates various rich older women.
Doesn't necessarily follow a plot narrative as much as the film is character-driven. We enter their lives at the Cintennial and watch as they go through the little quirky dramas. It isn't your usual drama and goes through various episodic dramas with Duane mostly at the center. What makes the film so odd is the way Duane and Karla remain together without ringing each others' necks. They know that each other jumps in and out of bed with others yet still maintain their family. Even weirder is how Jacy comes right into their lives, possibly a threat towards the marriage, yet she becomes quite good pals with Karla. Nothing operates the way you expect..I like this. I don't believe life follows a narrative thread. We all have our episodic dramas. There isn't always an exact end until we're under the grave. While the cast is very good, Annie Potts is just splendid while Bottoms as the tragic, troubled Sonny gains great sympathy for his mental plight. I just love to watch Bridges, especially when he won't reveal everything, yet when he does speak it often just makes simple sense. If you like heightened melodramas where characters scream and yell(..or, better yet, are directly confrontational), this film isn't for you.
Doesn't necessarily follow a plot narrative as much as the film is character-driven. We enter their lives at the Cintennial and watch as they go through the little quirky dramas. It isn't your usual drama and goes through various episodic dramas with Duane mostly at the center. What makes the film so odd is the way Duane and Karla remain together without ringing each others' necks. They know that each other jumps in and out of bed with others yet still maintain their family. Even weirder is how Jacy comes right into their lives, possibly a threat towards the marriage, yet she becomes quite good pals with Karla. Nothing operates the way you expect..I like this. I don't believe life follows a narrative thread. We all have our episodic dramas. There isn't always an exact end until we're under the grave. While the cast is very good, Annie Potts is just splendid while Bottoms as the tragic, troubled Sonny gains great sympathy for his mental plight. I just love to watch Bridges, especially when he won't reveal everything, yet when he does speak it often just makes simple sense. If you like heightened melodramas where characters scream and yell(..or, better yet, are directly confrontational), this film isn't for you.