Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna wrote and star in this story of two hopelessly lost souls who find one another. Each is the product of a dysfunctional home and each has struggled to find an anchor in this world. Their adult years are filled with failure and heartache and endless searching ... until they find each other.
This comedy/drama is a showcase for Renee Taylor who mines much of her own life for the character of Panda Gold, a hilariously untalented woman yearning to become a star and with a stage mother (Helen Verbit) to end all stage mothers. Bologna stars as Giggy Panimba, the coddled mama's boy who also fails at everything he tries ... including entering a seminary ... with his mama (Olympia Dukakis) right behind him.
They meet in a group therapy session and form an on-and-off alliance against the world that may or may not lead to a happy ending.
Taylor is funny and heartbreaking as she haplessly veers from job to job, always sure stardom and happiness await her. Her night club act in which she asks the coy question, "who am I now"? while doing a terrible impersonation of Rita Hayworth singing "Fire Down Below" is so bad it's funny. Bologna is appalled and tells her the act is terrible, but nothing penetrates, and she persists in thinking herself supremely talented. Audiences are just too dumb to get her act.
Co-stars include Paul Sorvino and Louis Zorich as the fathers, Peggy Pope, Ron Carey, Despo, and Norman Shelley as group members. Look fast for Adam Arkin, Candy Azzara, Eddie Barth, and Nancy Andrews.
In real life, the couple won an Oscar nomination and Writer's Guild nomination for the film version of their play "Lovers and Other Strangers" and earned another Writer's Guild nomination for this film.
Wonderful film.
This comedy/drama is a showcase for Renee Taylor who mines much of her own life for the character of Panda Gold, a hilariously untalented woman yearning to become a star and with a stage mother (Helen Verbit) to end all stage mothers. Bologna stars as Giggy Panimba, the coddled mama's boy who also fails at everything he tries ... including entering a seminary ... with his mama (Olympia Dukakis) right behind him.
They meet in a group therapy session and form an on-and-off alliance against the world that may or may not lead to a happy ending.
Taylor is funny and heartbreaking as she haplessly veers from job to job, always sure stardom and happiness await her. Her night club act in which she asks the coy question, "who am I now"? while doing a terrible impersonation of Rita Hayworth singing "Fire Down Below" is so bad it's funny. Bologna is appalled and tells her the act is terrible, but nothing penetrates, and she persists in thinking herself supremely talented. Audiences are just too dumb to get her act.
Co-stars include Paul Sorvino and Louis Zorich as the fathers, Peggy Pope, Ron Carey, Despo, and Norman Shelley as group members. Look fast for Adam Arkin, Candy Azzara, Eddie Barth, and Nancy Andrews.
In real life, the couple won an Oscar nomination and Writer's Guild nomination for the film version of their play "Lovers and Other Strangers" and earned another Writer's Guild nomination for this film.
Wonderful film.