The Story of Us (1999)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Best movie ever!

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

The Story Of Us is a wonderful movie in its own subtle way. I won't go into specifics about the plot, as many others before me have already done that. All I will say is that it's probably not for the younger crowd. In all honesty, if I had seen this film in my early twenties (and I'm now almost 40), I wouldn't have appreciated its subtlety on long term relationships. It's aimed at those of us who have been married, or in a long term relationship. Although I don't have children, the rest of this movie had many "oh yeah" moments for me. The Story of Us, is a complex, yet ultimately simple, explanation of long term relationships...all those 'little' things about the other person that drive you insane about them, but that if you're both willing to work on, make the relationship all that much richer for it. Wonderfully thought provoking. If you have ever been in a long term adult relationship, I'd be hard pressed to see how you COULDN'T relate, at the very least, on some small level to this film.

To be honest, I didn't even remember when this movie came out. I was single then so I may have deemed it a chick flick and moved on. When I finally did see it I had been married for a short time but been with my wife for a while. There was very, very little that we could not identify with. I almost felt like I was watching my life so the title is perfect. Bruce and Michelle are amazing in their roles and I challenge anyone to say there was not one part where they were not emotionally moved by their performances. While there were some funny moments(the scenes in Venice are good, and Michelle's rant at the end is classic) this is really a dramatic movie and I really feel the main characters played more to the dramatic aspects of the script. Honestly, I really don't think that it matters how long you've been married, or with someone, you really have to see this movie.

Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer are great actors; there's no denying that. But even the best actors in the world can't breathe believable life into dialog that is overly flowery and complex. And this script is full of tongue-twisting speeches that Pfeiffer and Willis just can't overcome.In a way, the writing is actually pretty beautiful -- certainly it's far better than the tripe in most movies (and it's the only thing that elevates this much above a "Lifetime, made-for TV" flick). But it simply isn't the way that people talk. The dialog -- especially Pfeiffer's mouth- full-of-a-monologue at the end of the film -- is filled with unnecessarily big and non- conversational words and long, complex sentences that don't exactly trip of the tongue. Overall, that final scene was pretty touching, and the meaning of what Katie is saying is deep and important -- and ultimately, it's the only thing that makes the movie worth sitting through. But nobody talks like that. And then there are the scenes where the Ben and Katie talk to the camera, narrating the story. Again, if it was writing in a book -- "prose" as opposed to "dialog" -- I'd consider it quite good writing. But clunkers like "...maybe it was the stuff of life..." (that separated us) are so distracting that they ruin the flow of the movie. The ultimate point of Katie's final speech, and I guess of the whole movie, is that you should choose to be with someone because of the quality of his or her character. Amen. But neither of these people really exhibited a depth of character to make them endearing to viewers or to each other. And even if someone has a sterling character, would you want to waste your life with a person who can't stop yelling at you? Though the movie doesn't take sides, I personally found Katie far more annoying than Ben -- and her rigidity, coldness, and inability to really communicate made it pretty unbelievable that Ben would want to stay with her. Life is too short to stay with someone you bicker that much with, in my opinion. It's true that sometimes you can find yourself in love with someone who really pushes your buttons. But there was never really a sense of these characters being in love, so I certainly didn't find myself rooting for them to work things out.One might make the point that parents should stay together "for the children," but as the child of parents who argued a lot when I was young, and who now (divorced) say they stayed together for the kids, I strongly believe that parents don't do their children favors by doing that. I'll admit that maybe watching this sort of story was upsetting for me to endure because of that personal history. But from reading other readers' comments, it seems that not many people found this an enjoyable film to watch. (I'm not saying that every movie should make you laugh out loud, or feel better, or whatever ... but a movie like this is such a downer that it makes you want your two hours back.)I absolutely can't recommend this film if you have any other alternatives. If it's a choice between this and a rerun of "Full House," I guess you could give this a try. But if there's some way you can just watch the last 10 or 15 minutes, that's about the only part worth watching.

This is a great film about marriage!, it's charming, sad, touching and at times hilarious, with 2 amazing performances from Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer!. All the characters are just great, and the story is very good!, plus Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer are simply amazing in this!. The ending is very touching, as i thought Michelle did a great job with her emotions in the end in my opinion!, plus Willis and Pfeiffer had wonderful chemistry together!. It's actually somewhat powerful at times, and you can really sympathize with Bruce's and Michelle's characters!, plus i loved the flashbacks on how they met, as Bruce as Michelle had funny and wicked wigs!. This wasn't well received by critics, however i found it to be a great film!, and it's engrossing throughout!, plus Rob Reiner was great in his supporting role!. It is at times depressing, but in a good way, and it's very well made and written as well, however what really makes it work is the performances by Willis and Pfieffer!. This is a great film, about marriage!, it's charming,sad,touching and at times hilarious!, with 2 amazing performances from Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer, i highly recommend this one!, even if you don't like this type of movie. The Direction is great. Rob Reiner does a great job here, with solid camera work, and keeping the film at an engrossing pace!. The Acting is superb!. Bruce Willis amazing as always, and is amazing here, he gets to try something a little different here, and he did fantastic at it!, he also had wonderful chemistry with Michelle, had a very likable, sympathetic character, did wonderful in his emotional scenes, and was just amazing overall! (Willis Rules!!!!!!!).Michelle Pfeiffer is stunningly gorgeous, and is amazing as always, she was extremely likable, also had a sympathetic character, did great in her emotional scenes, had wonderful chemistry with Bruce, and was really into her role!, and despite what other people say, i thought Michelle did perfect in her big emotional scene at the end!. (Michelle Rules!!!!!!).Rob Reiner is good in his supporting role i liked him. Rita Wilson was funny i liked her a lot. Rest of the cast do fine. Overall i highly recommend this one!.***1/2 out of 5