That was an excellent one.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I admit this movie has flaws. It gets a bit too standard rom-com in its last 3rd, and I don't think many male viewers can (or want to) relate to a lead who nearly faints each time he encounters an attractive female. I agree also with other reviewers writing this film is a vanity project of Streisand (e.g. the reaction of the male students after she loses some pounds and wears nicer clothes - c'mon!). On the other hand, the film just does so many things right that it ends up being very enjoyable (that is, if you like romantic comedies). The dialogue is smart, there are a lot of funny scenes, and especially the great chemistry between Streisand and Bridges as well as Streisand and Bacall stands out. Bacall steals every scene she is in and has the best one-liners, Bridges and Streisand also do a great job. I especially liked the scenes somewhere in the middle of the film, where both of them get more intimate (which is actually quite hot), followed by an argument. This argument just feels so rough and real. This more toned down acting is where Streisand really shines. It is also nice how Bridges comes to realize how much he misses his wife whilst he travels, which has nothing to do with how she changes her appearance later on. So it's not the typical ugly duckling story, where the male lead only shows interest after she turned into a swan (he actually rejects the swan - as probably much of the audience will do - we want the 'old Rose' back!). This is a nice contrast to Brosnan's character, whom he portrays as a wonderfully shallow, simple-minded pretty face. Unfortunately, in trying to wrap things up, the film becomes a rather formulaic rom-com with cheesy ending. A bit more of fine-tuning by another director (removing the Streisand-vanity-scenes and the sometimes too strong female wishful thinking) could have made it a great flick. For me though, the acting (of the entire cast) and many funny and witty lines save this movie to be still well above average.

OK. If you accept this movie for what it is, it's actually pretty entertaining. It's a Cinderella story for middle-aged folks. I won't recap the film. That's not my job. I'm here only to give you my impressions on the watchability and impact of this movie. If you love Barbra Streisand (and I do) and you love Jeff Bridges (and I do), you will love this romantic comedy. Both are at their funny, witty, comedic best in this film. Mimi Rogers is gorgeous as Bab's sister. (Oddly, Netflix has her mistakenly identified as Fran Drescher on its website.) Lauren Bacall is stunningly beautiful - still. Overall, the film has a lot of heart. What I love about Streisand is that she knows her weaknesses and her strengths, and plays both up to much effect in this film, which she directed and, I believe, co-wrote. This is a quintessential "chick flick," the kind you enjoy on a raining Sunday night with a big bowl of popcorn. If you are in just the right mood for a film that shamelessly exploits your feelings about romance, this one is it. Enjoy.

Where do I even f****** begin with this piece of trash?First of all, this formulaic garbage for lonely middle-aged spinsters features two of the most notorious witches (you can also replace the "w" with a "b") in the history of Hollywood, two arrogant, unlikable ogres: Streisand and Bacall. Streisand, the ugliest major actress for so many decades now (although Aniston, Barrymore, and Tea Leoni are hot on her heels) has made yet another self-indulgent piece of crap. The movie isn't about love in general, it's specifically about Barbra's undying, limitless and infinite love toward herself - though like most narcissists, that is probably largely based on a deeply repressed sense of low self-worth. (Aren't I a great from-the-distance psycho-analyst?) In this dumb movie she is supposed to be younger than Mimi Rogers, which is so extremely pathetic that it isn't even funny any more. In reality Mimi is FOURTEEN YEARS younger than the old the-way-we-were Marxist hag. In fact, Rogers looks 20 years younger, simply because ugly women like Streisand always look automatically older than they are. And anyway, even though Mimi is nothing to shout about (apart from the phenomenal breasts) she is a goddess next to Streisand, hence if they're to play sisters, I demand an explanation in the plot as to what DNA screw-up happened when their parents were making Barbra, having previously (ha-ha) made a normal-looking human female.Equally pathetic/funny/ridiculous is the fact that Barbra gets to smooch with Pierce Brosnan and Jeff Bridges, two guys who would in reality sooner vomit on her ugly nose than kiss it. Pierce, the most effeminate Bond ever, looks like a school-girl next to this Loch-Ness monster. The two of them kissing and flirting was like something perverse straight out of a manga comic or something. I was half-expecting her to grow tentacles out of her breasts and choke Pierce with them. Of course that would be a dumb horror film, but that would be much better than a cheesy romantic comedy that is just as predictable as one would expect. It was predictable that it would be predictable.Bridges is 7 years younger than our singing ghoul, and Brosnan is a whole 10 years her junior. What a strange way for Barbedwira to want to appeal to audiences: by showing yourself to be a deluded egomaniac! There is an unintentionally funny scene in which Bridges lists why he is so attracted to Barbra: he says something like "I love her eyes... her mouth... " and at this point he made a pause as if he were thinking about the nose! Of course, he doesn't mention the nose, as I'm sure that anyone on the set of any BS movie would get torn to shreds if they so much as even mention the "n" word. Bridges, whom I don't consider to be great actor (merely solid), should have gotten an Oscar for this role, and both him and Brosnan deserved no less than a Purple Heart each for the bravery they showed in the face of such... a face.It's pretty ironic that this overlong snooze-fest is based on a 1958 French film, because in French movies we usually have a 50 year-old man ogling and eventually molesting a 14 year-old girl (the French viewers apparently love that pedophilic stuff).The movie was made in 1996... Hmmm... Where did Barbedwira get the confidence, the CHEEK, to make this kind of embarrassing, self-adoring crap? Could it be due to her alleged brief romance with tennis star Andre Agassi, which was only a few years earlier around 1992? Did this romance give her the courage she needed to make "The Mirror Has Two Faces"? Of course, it's very easy for us to laugh at Barbra in hindsight; after all, she didn't know back then that Andre is attracted to big-nosed uglies! (Hence his marriage with the hideous Steffi Graf.)

I just saw this film again the first time since 1996. The production values for this film were great, but the sentiments are false. First I have to say that the acting is superb, especially Streisand and Bacall. Their mother-daughter revelation scene is wonderful, a gem shared by 2 consummate actresses.Here's the dishonesty: In the first half, we see that everyone who's attractive is also defective in some way. Husband is a jerk, sexless, a bore, mother jealous and vain, sister has no personality. In fact, why is Streisand so madly in love with a man who's such a jerk? Streisand shines as funny, intelligent, personable, well-liked by everyone. And our view of what's pretty has changed a lot since Streisand came along in the 60's. Meryl Streep's long nose or Jolie's oversize lips would never have been acceptable before Streisand. OK, she doesn't know how to dress, but is certainly printed as attractive. The camera, as usual, loves her. And in real life Streisand has always been attractive to attractive men.After showing us that physical beauty is not that important, the film then goes on to prove that the same woman, made more physically beautiful, can now attract her cold jerk of a husband and her sister's shallow ex. Husband even tells her that he's always found her sexy, it's just that he hadn't been interested. Such inconsistency in the writing.