Modern Romance (1981)

I think that Albert Brooks is a lot like Leonard Cohen. They're both brilliant, original writers and they both are entertaining and interesting performers...when taken in small doses. Listening to an entire Cohen CD is monotonous, as is watching Albert Brooks kvetch in every scene -- especially as he's alone, monologuing, in many of them. What seems like a burst of creativity when it pops up for a few minutes every half hour winds up being tedious and distinctly unfunny when it's the entire show.

This was less of a romance than a look at a budding stalker who whines aloud. The only good scenes were the ones that had nothing to do with the title "romance" -- shopping for running gear and editing in sound for a running sequence on a film were the only amusing portions...and they were only mildly so. The main storyline is terrible.

D