Product Description

The romantic life of NBA referee Billy Crystal is on the rebound when he falls for airline employee Debra Winger. Crystal also directs this transatlantic comedy slam dunk with top-notch supporting cast of comedy pros, including Joe Mantegna, Cathy Moriarty and William Hickey.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14894 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2000-01-18
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, HiFi Sound, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 101 minutes

Amazon.com
Billy Crystal plays Mickey, a basketball referee who has to accompany his estranged father's body to France, where the old man requested to be buried with the other members of his D-Day platoon. Unfortunately for Mickey, the airline loses his body. Fortunately for Mickey, this leads him to meet Ellen (Debra Winger), an airline executive who takes personal charge of the case and even joins him at the funeral. A whirlwind Paris romance leads to marriage, but that's when the complications begin... The story of Mickey and Ellen's marriage is recounted by their friends (played by Joe Mantegna, Cynthia Stevenson, Julie Kavner, Richard Masur, John Spencer, and Cathy Moriarty) as they wait for Mickey and Ellen to arrive at a dinner party. And of course these friends have their own stories, which are played out in witty shorthand as they bicker about who's going to tell the next part of the Mickey/Ellen saga. Forget Paris is uneven (unsurprisingly, Winger is stronger in the dramatic sections and Crystal in the comic parts, a schism that takes its toll on their chemistry), but its best parts hold up, even if the whole is shaky. Plus, the movie's theme (that romantic memories aren't what makes a marriage work, you have to live in the present) is explored with conviction and tenderness. --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker
A Billy Crystal movie with a vengeance: he produced, directed, and stars, as Mickey, a basketball referee who flies to Paris (or a tourist parody of Paris) and loses his heart to Ellen (Debra Winger), an airline worker. They get married, and the problems start-for them, and for the movie. Crystal and Winger make one of the great no-sparks couples in recent cinema: he cracks jokes, she looks baffled and strained. He also co-wrote, with the team of Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, whose scripts since "Splash" (1984) have been getting less nutty and more therapeutic; this one turns into a marriage-counselling session. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

An Unforgettable Love Affair...
This delightful peek into the romance and marriage of two very unlikely individuals was as much fun for me this time around as it was when I first saw it a few years ago.

Billy Crystal is great with the comedic repartee and Debra Winger is watchable in everything she does.

They meet under unusual circumstances - Mickey, the Billy Crystal character, is a referee who flies to Paris to bury his father. When the casket turns up missing, Mickey spends hours in the airport, seeking the help of various customer service employees, trying to locate his father's body. Then he meets Ellen (Debra Winger), who gives him the news that his father's body has been found - plus, the airlines is covering expenses, including his hotel, and bumping him up to first class for his return home.

Then somehow, the two click. Ellen shows Mickey around Paris. As they enjoy the sights, they begin a romantic love affair.

Inevitably, their week in Paris is at an end.

What is fun about the movie is following Mickey and Ellen's journey as they face all the usual obstacles in their relationship.

I deducted one star because, while fun and intriguing, the plot was fairly predictable and reminded me of many other such movies. However, Forget Paris was unforgettable despite these flaws.

A SHARP FUNNY ROMANTIC COMEDY THAT NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT!
It's a shame so many good films go un noticed, while so many bad ones become box office gold! I had never heard of 'Forget Paris' until I stumbled accross this film as part of a 4 film DVD set. Billy Crystal and the entire cast are in top form in this "not too sweet", funny and smart romantic comedy. This is worth your time, don't pass it by. The DVD transfer on my version looked very good.

Best movie no one seems to know about.
Our whole family enjoys this movie and we like to see good movies - for what ever reason few people have heard of this great Billy Crystal movie. They don't even list the main characters here on Amazon, Billy Crystal and Deborah Winger (not Marv albert & Charles Barkley they only have small cameo rolls if that). This is a story that has enough story and sports that guys love it. I love the way the supporting cast tells the story about what has happened to the two main characters. It is not predictable.