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Oliver's Story (1978)

Rate: 4
Viewed: 2/09

OliSt
2/09: Better than Love Story, Oliver's Story would have been a good picture only if it didn't go all wrong.

This time, Ryan O'Neal gives a pleasant, sincere performance like I've never seen him give before. The biggest fault is the meandering direction, leaving me frustrated many times. I wasn't sure where the sequel was heading, and when it finally did, it didn't seem to fit Oliver's character. It frequently happens when he's dating Marcia Bonwit, the multimillionaire business magnate, because her personality is a complete opposite of Jenny's.

I'm not surprised at the outcome but feel a pang of having my time wasted by the relationship. As a matter of fact, I like the furniture designer more. It helps to get rid of Ali MacGraw, but the consistency of the characters is hurt by the substitution of thespians for Jenny's father and Oliver's mother. The first minute Jenny's father appeared, I said, "Who's that?" The change of his personality is all wrong. At least, as a consolation, the filmmakers didn't go far enough to replace Ray Milland as Oliver's father which would've been a catastrophe otherwise.

The sudden change in Oliver's heart after he showed up at his father's textile mill on the last day is a weak attempt at accepting his inevitable fate. That being said, Oliver's Story needs work and better transitions because most of the focus is on Oliver's legal work which isn't interesting. Throughout, there's been a constant feeling of nothingness.

All in all, Oliver's Story fails because of the poor direction despite Ryan O'Neal giving one of the best performances of his career.