For a situation comedy with very little situation, this is quite a charming film. The premise is flimsy going on invisible: A muckraking Chicago reporter, John Belushi, is beaten up by corrupt cops and his unusually sympathetic editor sends him on working R&R to Wyoming to do a story on a woman ornithologist, Blair (Altered States) Brown. Based in a lonely cabin in the Rockies, Brown is a tough bird herself, though inevitably she and Belushi get together. The screenplay is by the gifted Larry Kasdan, who's been on something of a tear, having written The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Body Heat. He's a little on the sluggish side with his romantic comedy repartee, however—exchanges end with an "Oh, yeah?", a "Really!" or a cuss word just about as often as they do with a punch line. That leaves director Michael (Coal Miner's Daughter) Apted obliged to devote considerable attention to his majestic location (near Canon City, Colo.). He also does a lot of zooming in on footage of bald eagles soaring, swooping and otherwise behaving like refugees from a dollar bill. Belushi is an adequate actor and a great physical comedian who turns slamming his thumb with a hammer into a one act play. Brown is winsome with her straight lines. Even if the ending drags on a little, the most hardboiled of moviegoers are likely to shed a sentimental tear or two over the romance of it all. (PG)
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