Verdict
Summary
Moment by Moment was made and released after back-to-back smash hits Saturday Night Fever and Grease, but it was a massive flop for rising star Travolta, and for good reason: It’s painfully clichéd and goofy to the extreme, feeling like a teen romance written and directed by someone who has never experienced the kind of love and attraction that the film presents. Speaking of that, the film was written and directed by Tomlin’s future wife Jane Wagner, and the film does zero favors for Tomlin, who is incredibly unappealing here in a role that totally doesn’t grasp her heart and soul or even contain an ounce of chemistry between the two leads.
Plot:
A handsome, but directionless young man falls in love with a snooty rich socialite.
Review:
“Strip” Harrison (John Travolta looking and acting like a puppy in love) is a directionless young man who seems headed for big trouble with his life choices up to the moment he crosses paths with a rich socialite in the middle of a divorce, a snooty, unhappy woman named Trisha (Lily Tomlin) who lives in a beach side home and spends most of her time shopping in Beverly Hills. Strip is a low-level drug dealer, whose best friend is in jail, and everything he owns is in a backpack, but even that gets stolen from him, leaving him only with a pair of jeans and an address book. When he meets Trisha, she is depressed and disgruntled that her pharmacist won’t refill her prescription for sleeping pills, but Strip steps up and gives her a few pills he’s got in his pocket. This little act of kindness gets Strip a passing glance from Trisha who at first finds this guy annoying (he literally won’t shut up), but after awhile, she starts to realize that he’s harmless, if a little ingratiating. He acts like he’s a kid, constantly peppering her with probing questions and lame jokes about how rich she is and how hopelessly innocent he is about her lavish lifestyle, but eventually she caves and allows him to sort of wriggle his way into her stone cold heart. They begin sleeping together, and because she’s much older and more experienced than he is, the poor sap falls in love with her, despite the fact that she’s constantly holding him at arm’s length away. She offers to help him out with his jalopy car and some life advice, but when he finally gets the hint that she’s only interested in him sexually, she breaks his heart and he rides off like the dejected moron that he is. But moment by moment, she begins to care for this kid, even if she really tries hard not to …
Moment by Moment was made and released after back-to-back smash hits Saturday Night Fever and Grease, but it was a massive flop for rising star Travolta, and for good reason: It’s painfully clichéd and goofy to the extreme, feeling like a teen romance written and directed by someone who has never experienced the kind of love and attraction that the film presents. Speaking of that, the film was written and directed by Tomlin’s future wife Jane Wagner, and the film does zero favors for Tomlin, who is incredibly unappealing here in a role that totally doesn’t grasp her heart and soul or even contain an ounce of chemistry between the two leads. It’s pointless to trash the film as it has gotten enough of a lambasting over the years as a proverbial turkey. That said, I’d like to mention the things I did enjoy about the film, which sort of gives the movie an interesting historical element: I really love the late 70s Los Angeles vibe of it because I was born in Hollywood and lived my younger years in L.A. during this era. It brought back in vivid color the former beauty of LA., and the film perfectly captures that. I also enjoyed the quiet and understated score by Lee Holdridge, which never overplays the dramatic and romantic elements of the film. Travolta has always had a blazing appeal, and while he’s super miscast in this role as a handsome ding dong (he might as well be playing a gay gigolo or something), he’s still fun to watch here in his early career.
Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray edition of Moment by Moment looks and sounds solid in high definition, and the disc comes with an audio commentary by several film historians, as well as radio spots and the trailer.
