Cousins [1989]

Larry (Ted Danson) and Maria (Isabella Rossellini) meet at a family wedding. Unfortunately so do their spouses who disappear into the bushes to start their affair. Sean Young and William Petersen are superbly cast as the spouses with a performance that makes it incredibly easy to hate them.

Larry and Maria however become good friends and try to get revenge on their partners by plotting to pretend to be lovers. However, as you can guess, things get complicated when they become best friends and find it increasingly difficult to be apart from one another.

Any film staring Ted Danson is always a success and as usual he plays a wonderful character that you could easily run off with yourself. Isabella Rossellini absolutely graces the screen with her gentle beauty and the pair of them convince you that they are a match made in heaven.

The main comedy elements are supplied by all the other various members of the family, including Larry's Son and Father; and Maria's Mother, lending some hilarious moments to the film.

Sounds like a chick-flick? I promise you it's not. This film is total escapism and one that you will watch again and again.


A romantic film for all the romantics in the world   February 12, 2005
Kali (United Kingdom)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

For once Ted Danson does himself justice as an actor. Of course he is helped by the delectable Isabella Rossellini and the superb Sean Young in a love story with a difference. Danson is a dance instructor, Rossellini a housewife who become cousins by marriage when they meet at the wedding of her mother to his uncle.

At the same wedding Danson's wife played by Sean Young meets Rossellini's husband, handsomely portrayed by William Petersen, he of CSI fame. An affair ensues and it is only a matter of time before their respective spouses find out.

But when Danson and Rossellini do find out they decide on a perfect revenge. They pretend that they too are having an affair. This is done gently, with great humour and many funny moments, like when Danson buys Rossellini a hat because her husband "hates them" and Rossellini does the same with boxer shorts and it's not long before their philandering partners are getting a taste of their own medicine.

Add to this Danson's crotchety father ably played by Lloyd Bridges who turns up when his brother dies of a heart attack, as well as Danson's teenage son who wants to be a horror movie director, and you have a delightful comedy filled with great moments that leave you chuckling away whilst at the same time wiping away the occasional tear from your eye.

The story line could be complicated but isn't though it might take you a few minutes to sort out who is related to whom in the film! It is a nice love story about how two people who fall in love and have to make up their mind whether they stay together or try to make their marriages work. As well as this you have the blossoming love between Rossellini's mother (now widowed) and Danson's father, watch the scene when Danson's son helps his grandfather get ready for his first date, it's hilarious. All in all this is a great film and the music score is absolutely brilliant. So for a film that is gentle, funny and touching don't look any further, "Cousins" is all you need.


Cousins   January 11, 2004
Hoppy (Eastbourne, East Sussex United Kingdom)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

In 1975 the French film "Cousin, Cousine" charmed a lot of Americans. In 1988 Joel Schumacher made an adaptation. It's rare for American copies of foreign films to work and the critics duly slammed "Cousins" for its lack of being an English version of the original. They missed the point. "Cousins" has its own slant on "Four Weddings", it has its own charm and wit and if it occasionally borders on farce I can forgive it as its characters are equally as engaging as either of its English or French counterparts.
It's Ted Danson's finest hour as the sympathetic, free-spirited Larry who by his uncle's marriage and his wife's infidelity with his new cousin's husband... well, you work it out for yourself. Rossellini, who couldn't possibly look plain though she tries hard, is cousin Maria, with whom Larry plays games to spite their errant spouses until realising the game has rebounded on them. It's a classic menage-a-quatre and you just ache for these two to get together. Patience, there's more fun along the way, not least from wonderful Lloyd Bridges who steals every scene as Larry's father, plying Larry's son Mitch - an aspiring "multi-media artist" with a sensationalist streak, with girlie mags and condoms.
Stephen Metcalfe's intelligent screenplay crackles, intercutting ample laugh lines (though let's avoid that so-American "hilarious" tag) with honest warmth and passion from the two leads. Ultimately, it's a film that will bring out that long "Aaaah" of satisfaction as you watch them ride off into the... Well, let's just say it springs no surprises.
Stylishly observed, nicely crafted, beautifully played. Some films you just grow to cherish. This is one of mine


Gentle warm and delightful romantic comedy   January 8, 2006
pointone (Bournemouth UK)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

How can it not be romantic with wedding receptions at the beginning, middle and end?

Larry (Danson) and Maria (Rossellini) have philandering spouses who pop out for a quickie during the first wedding reception where Larry’s father is marrying Maria’s mother. The following day Maria tracks down her new cousin by marriage and amidst an instant friendship decide to revenge themselves on their spouses by pretending to have an affair.

There is excellent chemistry between Danson and Rossellini as they gently progress towards love, with fine counterpoints of antagonism from their spouses Tom (Petersen) and Tish (Young).

The sub plot between Larry’s father (Bridges) and his son Mitch (Coogan) provides comedy relief, sharing Play Boy magazines and with a great scene where Mitch prepares his grandfather for a date.

This is a gentle romantic comedy with a fine soundtrack that leaves you with a good feeling at the end.


a nice film nicely acted ; good enough   October 15, 2007
Mr. Ian A. Macfarlane (Fife, Scotland)
This is quite a pleasant film, centering on the attraction between two unassuming married people who meet at a wedding. They become friends - clearly they are soulmates - but are nice enough not to want to destroy their marriages, unsatisfactory up to a point as these are, because their respective spouses are not bad, just limited and fallible. These same spouses start an affair of a kind and things become rather complicated. There are good jokes and good moments ; also some rather flat sequences. Danson and Rosselini are good, and surprisingly convincing, as the soulmates, and there's some cookie fun with Lloyd Bridges as Danson's dad. I didn't like the film as much as many others did. It seemed to me to be trying too hard and too obviously to be a feel-good movie, and for me the genuinely amusing moments were too few and far between. The ending is very sugary indeed. So, pleasant, quite enjoyable, no more.