Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

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

I think this movie defines Alda's talent for writing. He uses situations and feelings that people face or have faced in real life. Ever since I first saw Alan's first M*A*S*H episode that he wrote, I made it my job to see every movie that he stared and wrote in. His talent is unsurpassed and cannot be reproduced. I first bought this on Selectavision Videodisc, and now I own it on every format. Every time formats change, I make sure to get the updated copy of it. This is a must see movie for any Alan Alda, or Carol Burnett fan. "It all adds up to warmhearted enjoyment and sidesplitting fun in this fabulous new RCA VideoDisc" (Susan Zucker, quote taken from the RCA VideoDisc "The Four Seasons")

I've seen this movie every year at least once or twice since 1981. It's one of those great films to cuddle up with your dog, some popcorn and a blanket and enjoy. It's taken me from the age of 21 to 46. Not many movies are sweet and funny for 25 years.The great part is that it not only tells the story of the "four seasons" of the couples' relationships, it also tells the story of the "four seasons" of life as typified by the daughters in college, to the older dentist and his wife. It's funny, warm, sarcastic, sweet and romantic. You can't ask for much more from a movie. And all that without relying on women with implants, explosions or gratuitous sex. And minimal amount of bad language. So minimal, my Mother even laughs at it.

Twenty-five years since its initial release, this 1981 comedy from Alan Alda, its director, writer and nominal star, still holds up pretty well. In fact, I just saw Norman Jewison's 2001 film, "Dinner with Friends", which feels like a partial remake in following the friendships that evolve among married couples hovering around middle age. Using Vivaldi's familiar string concertos as a transitional device, Alda's film concerns itself with three upscale couples who take vacations together every season, consequently we get four vignettes over the course of a year. It's a contrived plot machination with no sense of climax, but it all seems to fit the contours of the story.Jack is a lawyer who would like nothing more than have group therapy sessions with his friends, while his wife Kate, a magazine editor, is a no-nonsense woman who sometimes gets frustrated with Jack's constant emotional insulation. Danny is a neurotic, penny-pinching dentist married to Claudia, an artist with the hot temper of her Italian roots. Nick is a philandering insurance agent who wants to divorce his wife Anne, a housewife frozen by her self-doubts. It is the dissolution of this last marriage that provides the impetus for the group to examine the state of their relationships with their spouses and friends. The group starts out with a spring fishing trip when Nick confides to Jack about his need for a divorce, followed by a Caribbean summer boat trip when Nick brings his new nubile girlfriend Ginny, a wide-eyed stewardess. The fall has them visiting their kids in college, and a soccer match proves to be a test of wills among the men to prove their virility to Ginny much to the chagrin of the wives. The last piece takes them to a wintry cabin where true feelings are exposed, especially as Ginny exposes the women for their vindictive exclusionary tactics.The acting is solid. Alda seems to be doing a send-up of his own sensitive male persona as Jack, and a wisely cast Carol Burnett is actually pretty subtle as Kate. These two were such huge TV icons in the 1970's that the impact of their goodwill is almost instant. As the most comic pair, Rita Moreno and Jack Weston provide most of the laughs as they banter and bicker like Fred and Ethel Mertz redux. Broadway actor Len Cariou manages the insolence and liberation of a husband set free, while Sandy Dennis brings a palpable dimension of sadness to the socially ejected Anne. Bess Armstrong plays Ginny with an apt sunniness masking a burning need for acceptance. The story leads to little beyond a funny sight gag and an implication that Ginny will become more integral to the group, but the dialogue is often shrewdly observant and sometimes cannily witty. Alda doesn't quite have Woody Allen's sharp acumen in producing genuine laughs out of the human condition, but the film generates a good time while it lasts. The 2005 DVD has no extras.

This is probably one of my favorite films of the '80's. I watch it every time it comes on t.v. and I did see it when it came out originally. I relate to the characters in the movie and see them in friends and acquaintances every day. The comedy is excellent both in the delivery and response. If I feel down or depressed about something, I can feel better just by watching this movie. It makes me laugh and I think this is the main reason for the movie in the first place. I believe in laughter being a positive influence and Carol Burnett is second only to Lucille Ball in making one laugh! Alan Alda is a perfect match to Carol and with the support of Rita Moreno's constant ethnic expletives you have good reactions between all the characters.