Special Coverage The Photo IssueThe Must List2008 Fall TV2008 Fall Movies2008 Fall Music

Credits

Rated: R; Genres: Drama, Romance; With: Nick Nolte and Barbra Streisand
C
By Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman is a film critic for EW

Director Barbra Streisand has turned Pat Conroy's 1986 novel into a big, messy, go-for-the-throat soap opera. Tom Wingo (Nick Nolte), a middle-aged Southerner who has spent a lifetime bottling up his guilt and rage, journeys to New York City to look after his suicidal sister and ends up pouring out his feelings to the sister's psychiatrist, Dr. Susan Lowenstein (Streisand). Nolte gives a weirdly energetic -- and unconvincing -- performance. He rants, he grins, he yells; he seems furious and giddy at the same time. As a director, Streisand makes the mistake of pumping up the romance, turning Lowenstein into both a godlike healer and a pampered love object. ''The Prince of Tides'' now plays like a glossy version of a therapist-patient relationship interspersed with Freudian footnotes. The trouble with the movie is that Streisand isn't content with exploring human pain. She had to make it glamorous, too.


Posted Jan 10, 1992
 

Add Your Comments

The rules: Keep it clean, and stay on the subject or we might delete your comment. If you see inappropriate language, e-mail us. You must have javascript enabled to submit a comment.
--
Change/Edit your grade
characters remaining