Best movie ever!

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Maybe this movie was spot on in 1979, but in today's viewing it all falls flat. It frankly pretty boring. Good cast and decent acting, but the script falls flat, with very few funny moments. The last 1/3 of the movie is uninteresting. The general atmosphere was dreary. Some may like this though, but not for me.

Burt Reynolds is single again, after breaking up with Candace Bergen, and good friends Charles Durning and Frances Sternhagen set him up with Jill Clayburgh. That's how it all starts. What seems like a standard comedy-drama is buoyed by the stars' charm and outstanding performances, especially Clayburgh and Bergen. (They were incidentally both nominated for their work in this.) And, Burt has never been better. As one reviewer has said, this has to be Burt's best work. It's great to see Candace before "Murphy Brown" giving her all in a memorable role and singing her heart out. If you happen to see this on TV, do yourself a favor and discover the best the 1970s had to offer.

After several years as a comic book action hero, Burt Reynolds took a calculated career risk at becoming a romantic leading man in the 1979 comedy STARTING OVER and the risk paid off in spades. Reynolds turned in his best performance up to this point as Phil Potter, a writer whose wife (Candice Bergen) has just divorced him who enters, perhaps a bit too quickly, another relationship with a neurotic schoolteacher (Jill Clayburgh. This smartly directed comedy, lovingly directed by ALan J. Pakula hits all the right notes and introduces characters you care about. Bergen also opened up a whole new career for herself, showing a flair for light comedy, which resulted in her first Oscar nomination. Her musical seduction of Burt with "Better than Ever" is one of the funniest scenes in film comedies ever. Bergen's performance here was largely responsible for her being offered the role of Murphy Brown. Clayburgh (also nominated for an Oscar) is just as good, creating a quirky and heartbreaking character who evokes laughs and sympathy. It has been well documented over the years that Reynolds was deeply hurt when both of his leading ladies here received Oscar nominations and he did not. Then to add insult to injury, the Best Actress Oscar that year went to his girlfriend at the time, Sally Field. Burt should have been nominated for this film...it was beautifully controlled performance that was nothing like he had ever done before. Charles Durning and Frances Sternhage offer strong support as Phils' brother and sister-in-law and don't overlook those wonderful scenes with Burt's Divorced Men's support group. A winning romantic comedy that finally proved Burt Reynolds really knew how to act.

She was again nominated for the Academy Award in 1979 for her role in 'Starting Over' (1979). This movie starred Burt Reynolds as Phil Potter and Jill Clayburgh as Marilyn Holmberg.Baltimore Bob's 1 of 10 favorite movie lines in 'Starting Over': "There was a funny line spoken when Marilyn is being followed by Phil in this movie in New York City and they are strangers not knowing that they are headed to the same place to meet for the first time. Marilyn senses that a stranger is following her and all of a sudden she turns to Phil and says 'Take one more step my way and I'll cut your balls off' so Phil backs off eventually getting to the place where he is going where she is discussing the fact that there was some pervert following her only to be totally embarrassed about the fact the guy was Phil."Baltimore Bob