Mockingbird Pictures
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The Face of Love
She lost her perfect love... until she found his perfect double.
A widow falls for a guy who bears a striking resemblance to her late husband.
- Original title
- The Face of Love
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- $4,000,000
- Revenue
- $350,006
tmdb28039023
Aug 27, 2022 · via TMDB
I never thought I’d use the term Idiot Plot to refer to a film starring Annette Bening, Ed Harris, and Robin Williams, but then I’d never watched The Face of Love. Nikki (Bening) is a widow who is still pining for her dead husband Garrett (Ed Harris) five years after he drowned on a beach in Mexico. One day she meets Tom (also Harris), who looks so much like her late husband – complete with the exact same tone of voice and male pattern baldness – that the only possible explanation is that Garrett and Tom were twins separated at birth (I would also accept cloning, at least as the movies usually (mis)understand it). The movie, however, offers no explanation for the fact that Tom is a perfect replica – down to each and every single wrinkle – of Garrett (or viceversa), other than “you know what they say. We all have a double somewhere in the world.” Nikki becomes romantically involved with Tom, but never even bothers to mention his uncanny resemblance to her defunct spouse. Why not? It would be the perfect icebreaker, and Tom would know it’s not just a pick-up line as soon as Nikki shows her a picture of Garrett. She is also concerned, more reasonably so given the circumstances, by what people, especially her daughter Summer (Jess Weixler) and neighbor Roger (Williams), might think about her dating someone who appears to be an alternate reality version of Garrett. This actually leads me to believe that TFoL would have worked better as a comedy, with Nikki going out of her way to talk Tom into an extreme makeover – the movie, nevertheless, is hell-bent on being a drama, and in that sense it would have been well advised to have Tom played by an actor who isn’t Harris but can reasonably pass for him (John Malkovich, maybe?). Given the quality and credentials of the stars, I have no choice but to point an accusatory finger at director Arie Posin and co-writers Posin and Matthew McDuffie, who manage to get wrong even what they get right; case in point, Williams gives the film’s best performance in what is essentially a throwaway role – one would have expected Roger, who was Garrett’s friend and has feelings for Nikki, to at least attempt to drive a wedge between the lovers, but he and Tom never even come face to face (again, if this were a comedy, and I’m more and more convinced it should have been one, Roger would have gone to hilarious extremes to shape himself in Garrett’s/Tom’s likeness to win Nikki over. Oh well).
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Annette Bening
Nikki Lostorm
Ed Harris
Garret Mathis / Tom Young
Robin Williams
Roger Stillman
Jess Weixler
Summer
Amy Brenneman
Ann
Linda Park
Jan
Jeffrey Vincent Parise
Nicholas
Clyde Kusatsu
Sushi Chef
Miguel Pérez
Bartender
Jeannine Oppewall
Production Design
Judianna Makovsky
Costume Design
Doug Coleman
Stunt Coordinator
Eliza Coleman
Stunts
Katie Rowe
Stunts
Arie Posin
Director
Doug Coleman
Second Unit Director
Heidi Levitt
Casting
Monika Mikkelsen
Casting
Paige Dunham
Executive Producer
Marcelo Zarvos
Original Music Composer
Arie Posin
Writer
L'Obstacle
Got 2 Believe
A Killing Affair
Two Women
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Malena
Zorba the Greek
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Kabei: Our Mother
Finding Neverland
21 Grams
Lolita
Driving Miss Daisy
Places in the Heart
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Bound by Chastity Rule
Shooter
An Autumn Tale
This Sporting Life
The Monk Farted
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Serendipity
Lemon Tree
Runaway Jury
Starman
Secret Lives
Swati Muthyam
Antonia's Line
Time for You to Come Home for Christmas
Moonstruck
Mrs Brown
Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald
The Juniper Tree
Water
Mrs. Henderson Presents
Still the Water
Things We Lost in the Fire
The Honeymoon Killers
The Gift
Tea with Mussolini
Nights in Rodanthe
Luna
Clay Pigeons
William Tell
The Railway Station Man
Hampstead
Elsa & Fred
Hemsöborna
A Fire in the Cold Season
Bounce
The Deal
Fast and Sexy
The Widowhood of Karolina Žašler
Silence in Dreamland
Angels with Broken Wings
Home Fries
Adorable Creatures
Despite Everything
Wróbel
Mitte 30
Rejoyce!
The Bridges of Madison County
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
The Best of Me
One Day
The Magnificent Ambersons
All That Heaven Allows
The Secret: Dare to Dream
Love at First Sight
Safe Haven
Fathers and Daughters
Starman
Jane Eyre
Ordinary Love
Black or White
The Lost Husband
Our Souls at Night
A Love Song
Lovely, Still
Iris
Tim
Not Easily Broken
The Yellow Handkerchief
Blind
Nine Lives
Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between
Cairo Time
The Object of My Affection
Mar 7, 2014
