ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY May 16, 1997

FEATURES/SUMMER MOVIE PREVIEW

JUNE

FOR ROSEANNA

The romance in this romantic comedy involves a trattoria owner (Jean Reno) granting the dying wish of his wife (Mercedes Ruehl), who wants to be buried in a particular cemetery. The comedy comes when he finds there's limited space and tries to keep potential corpses alive until his beloved can claim her spot. "Comedy springs from a dark root," says Ruehl. "If we didn't have death, believe me, we'd have no comedy." (June 18)

HOUSTON CHRONICLE April 4, 1997

WEEKEND PREVIEW

Lights! Camera! Action!/Worldfest '97 screenings will start tonight at Meyerland

LOUIS B. PARKS
Staff

The 1997 edition of WorldFest Houston, the city's own film festival, opens tonight with gala-style festivities, the screening of a new American comedy filmed in Italy and an after-movie bash.

'FOR ROSEANNA": 8p.m. On two screens. A 1997 romantic comedy from Fine Line that won't be released in the United States until June. The movie, which is in English, was filmed in Sermoneta, Italy, by British director Paul Weiland, from a script by American writer Saul Turteltaub, with an international cast. It features Oscar winner Mercedes Ruehl ("The Professional," "The Fisher King", French star Jean Reno ("Mission Impossible") and British actress Polly Walker ("Enchanted April," "Emma"). Reno plays Marcello, who is determined to grant his dying wife's last wish-to be buried next to her daughter. But the local cemetery has only three plots left, so Marcello must keep everyone else in the village alive. The resulting adventures are pretty wild, but touched by the emotion of the situation. Meanwhile Roseanna, his wife, is trying to take care of her husband's life after death.

HOUSTON CHRONICLE May 18, 1997

ZEST

SUMMER MOVIE FEAST/Expect more band for the buck this season

LOUIS B. PARKS
Staff

For Roseanna: Whatever they finally title this film (Roseanna's Grave is another possibility), it's Italian-it was filmed in Italy. But it's actually an American film starring Oscar winner Mercedes Ruehl (The Fisher King) and French star Jean Reno. He plays a husband trying to save the last grave in the town cemetery for his dying wife. If it sounds downbeat, it is not. With Polly Walker as the sister whom the wife wants her husband to marry when she's gone.

THE RECORD, NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
Wednesday, June 18, 1997

YOUR TIME

MOVIE

FINE ACTORS IN SEARCH OF A PLOT
LAURENCE CHOLLET, Staff Writer

MOVIE

**

FOR ROSEANNA: Directed by Paul Weiland, written by Saul Turteltaub. Photographed by Henry Braham. Edited by Martin Walsh. With Jean Reno, Mercedes Ruehl, and Polly Walker. PG-13, 99 minutes. Opens in Manhattan

Marcello has a problem. His terminally ill wife, Roseanna, has one last wish: to be buried in the local cemetery next to their daughter who died many years ago. Unfortunately, there are only three plots left in the cemetery and they are going fast.

That's the premise of director Paul Weiland's new film, which stars Jean Reno as Marcello and Mercedes Ruehl as Roseanna.

The film attempts to blend farce and romance with a touch of black humor, and under the circumstances, the two actors work very well together despite their cultural differences.

Reno, from France, is perhaps best known as the kindly hit man in Luc Besson's film "The Professional." Ruehl, from the United States, is a master at playing offbeat, somewhat kooky suburban women. She won an Oscar for her role in "The Fisher King."

But in this film, both actors prove their mettle, pulling off believable Italian accents in the process.

Reno is dandy as the well-meaning, devoted, somewhat oafish tavern owner who will stop at nothing-short of murder-to ensure that his wife's last wish is granted.

Ruehl is equally good as the salt-of-the-earth Italian wife, so concerned for her husband that she is planning for him after she's gone: She wants him to marry her sister Cecilia (Polly Walker).

Reno and Ruehl click whenever they are alone on-screen generating a sense of a long-married, devoted couple. They have endured life's accidents and are now more deeply in love. It's a fine performance, as far as it goes-and it's the only thing this film has going for it.

The script by veteran television writer-producer Saul Turteltaub ("The Jackie Gleason Show"), is hardly a step above that of a TV-movie-of-the-week. The characters lack depth, the plot lacks resonance, and the story is told virtually in words (not images)-with the exception of a rather arty, non-verbal opening that ultimately goes nowhere. (A troop of circus performers, in makeup, are burying one of the troupe in the local cemetery.)

The biggest problem, however, is giving Marcello a ridiculous task: that of ensuring that his wife gets her spot in the cemetery and, therefore, devoting his time to preventing other people in town from dying.

This is a one-note, one-laugh mission at best. Marcello can pull only so many cigarettes from his patrons' mouths or direct town traffic from accidents for so long. But it is milked here for nearly half the film, with disastrous effect.

Any character foolish enough to take on such a goal is not someone with whom the audience can easily identify. As a result, Marcello quickly devolves into something of a cartoon, and so does his mission. As Marcello goes, so goes this movie.

The plot totters between humor and drama, and does neither well. The story isn't helped by numerous coincidences, a continual series of sentimental scenes-invariably underlined with very loud and sentimental music and a chorus of card-playing tavern regulars who seem to be a staple in movies set in small-town Italy.

The "bad guy" Capestro (Luigi Diberti), the wealthy padrone who refuses to sell a few acres of his vast estate so the cemetery can be expanded, doesn't fare much better. He carries a dark secret that ultimately is neither very dark nor very secret.

There are a few surprises in this film, and the one genuine surprise as the end is seriously undercut. By the time it happens, we don't care what happens to anybody.

Perhaps what is most astonishing about this movie is that it was shot on location in the hilltop town of Sermoneta in the Lazio region of Italy, south of Rome. Never has Italy looked so gray, so boring, and lifeless. How the filmmakers made a quaint hill-town look like London in the fog is anyone's guess.

COLOSSUS REVIEWS
James Berardinelli

For Roseanna

Paul Weiland's For Roseanna gives new meaning to the phrase "a grave film." This comedy -- the artsy equivalent of Weekend at Bernie's -- gets a lot of its humor from death, dying, and the act of dragging corpses from place to place. Strangely, however, while the movie is sporadically funny, it's rarely laugh-aloud hilarious, and many of the dramatic elements seem more obligatory than heartfelt. There's something dissatisfying about For Roseanna -- as if it's a short that someone tried to stretch to feature length.

Jean Reno has the comic aptitude of a Charlie Chaplin -- a flexible body and expressive features. He's very much at home doing anything from the serious, tense work of The Professional to the silly froth of The Visitors (a big hit overseas but a colossal flop in the United States). This makes him an excellent choice for Marcello, who has to cope with the loss of a daughter and the illness of his wife while engaging in all sorts of foolish antics to ensure that there will still be a grave available for her when she dies.

The problem is that the graveyard where Marcello's daughter is buried is nearly full, and his wife, Roseanna (Mercedes Ruehl), who has a weak heart, wants to be laid to rest next to her child. The cemetery can't expand, because Capestro (Luigi Diberti), the man who owns the adjacent land, refuses to sell. As a result, Marcello has to hope that everyone in and around his little village stays alive. To that end, he engages in a variety of absurd activities: directing traffic after church so there are no accidents, driving drunks home so they don't get behind the wheel, snatching cigarettes out of peoples' mouths and putting them out, and bringing flowers and words of support to hospital patients. Sometimes, however, Marcello's actions don't work out quite as he planned. Meanwhile, Roseanna, who recognizes that her heart could give out at any time, is busy planning for her husband's future happiness by trying to hook him up with her younger sister, Cecilia (Polly Walker). Unfortunately, Marcello and Cecilia don't get along, and she is attracted to Antonio (Mark Frankel), a dashing young attorney who happens to be Capestro's nephew.

Sitting through For Roseanna certainly isn't an unpleasant experience, but the film never goes far enough. The comedy is safe (or as safe as it can be when the subject matter involves dead bodies), the romance is tepid, and the drama is restrained. Aside from Reno, who throws himself wholeheartedly into the role of Marcello, there's no standout performance. Mercedes Ruehl's Roseanna is actually rather dull, and Polly Walker (Enchanted April), despite being attractive, doesn't add much.

Those looking for romance are likely to be the most disappointed by For Roseanna. As a love story, it leaves a lot to be desired. The most heartfelt emotion evident between Marcello and his wife is affection -- theirs is certainly not a white-hot marriage. Worse still is the relationship between Cecilia and Antonio, which is about as dull, passionless, and unappealing as any motion picture love affair can get. (Does anyone really want them together in the end?) And, while there are hints of some sort of romantic tension between Cecilia and Marcello, it's never developed into anything tangible, which is unfortunate, because these two might have made an interesting couple.

For Roseanna was filmed on-location in Italy with an international cast and crew, yet everyone inexplicably speaks English. (There's nothing new about this phenomenon, but I've become acutely aware of it since seeing Killer Condom, a European movie set in the United States where everyone speaks German.) The film is clearly designed for American consumption, and will represent Fine Line Features' summer "counterprogramming." Unfortunately, it doesn't offer more than a marginal diversion. Then again, in the midst of so many action-oriented blockbusters, maybe For Roseanna's uncertain blend of comedy, romance, and drama will be enough to generate interest. If nothing else, it's at least a change of pace.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY June 27, 1997

MOVIES

THE WEEK

OWEN GLEIBERMAN; LISA SCHWARZBAUM;

NEW RELEASES

FOR ROSEANNA (Fine Line, PG-13) You can just about hear the accountants in the back room bellowing, "Gimme some of that il Postino feeling!" So director Paul Weiland and veteran screenwriter Saul Turteltaub dredge it up by the vatful with this synthetic, stereotype-drenched drama about an Italian tavern owner (Jean Reno from The Professional) intent on keeping everyone in town alive in order to save one of the church's few remaining grave sites for his dying but lusty (!) wife (Mercedes Ruehl, in full mamma mia mode). Meanwhile, the signora schemes to interest her husband in marrying her plum tomato of a younger sister (Enchanted April's Polly Walker) after she kicks. The "charm" of the tale is about as authentic as the Village People-who, unfortunately, don't supply the soundtrack, since that, too, is a knockoff of the il Postino anthem. C- L.S.