Picks and Pans Review: Key Exchange

UPDATED 09/16/1985 at 01:00 AM EDT Originally published 09/16/1985 at 01:00 AM EDT

If nothing else, this film might result in a Ban the Yuppies movement. It probes the subtleties of that eternal question; How committed do you have to be before exchanging apartment keys with your chic, cool, cynical Manhattan mate? Broadway actor Ben Masters plays a suave mystery writer. He is so afraid of losing his freedom that he's afraid to meet the father of his semi-steady girlfriend, Brooke (Days of Heaven) Adams, assistant producer of a TV talk show hosted by Tony (Manhattan) Roberts. Subplot-wise, Masters' bicycle-racing friend, Daniel (Diner) Stern and his new wife, Nancy Mette, are breaking up just a few days after they got married. Boys meet girls, boys lose girls, boys and girls behave like utter jerks. Adapted from Kevin Wade's play, the script by Kevin Scott and Paul Kurta brims with characters and situations that just fade away. The only scene that sustains any comedy is one in which Masters wanders accidentally onto Roberts' TV panel during a discussion of infertility among couples and ad libs a speech on the poignant problems of being a "sterile single." First time feature director Barnett Kellman was nominated for an Emmy for Another World; maybe he should have paid a trifle more attention to television. Just about any episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show had 10 times as much humor and humanity as this movie. (R)

Your Reaction

Follow Us

On Newsstands Now

Brad's Devotion: The Inside Story
  • Brad's Devotion: The Inside Story
  • Oklahoma Tornado: Heroic Rescues
  • Michael Douglas on Catherine's Health

Pick up your copy on newsstands

Click here for instant access to the Digital Magazine

Advertisement

From Our Partners

Watch It

Editors' Picks

From Our Partners