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Rated: PG-13; Genre: Comedy; With: Jon Amiel, , Barbara Hershey and Keanu Reeves

TUNE IN TOMORROW Barbara Hershey, Keanu Reeves (1990, HBO, $92.99, PG-13) Virtually ignored by audiences during its theatrical run, this offbeat comedy probably won't fare much better on video. Its admirers might tell you that its uniqueness precludes mass appeal. But the fact is that the filmmakers just didn't do enough with their original ideas. At the movie's heart is the romance between young Keanu Reeves and his aunt by marriage, Barbara Hershey. Pulling the strings of their love story is Peter Falk as a rascally radio scriptwriter for a new soap opera. Several installments of that overwrought melodrama come to life on-screen, with the likes of Peter Gallagher and Elizabeth McGovern appearing as radio characters. Yet this comedy-within-a-comedy remains cleverer in concept than in execution; under Jon Amiel's dull-edged direction, the talented cast seems at odds with the material. Intended as a romantic look at how life imitates art (and vice versa), the movie lacks the wit or whimsy to make it soar. B- -Michael Sauter


Posted May 03, 1991
 

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