"Just Between Friends" (1986)

It is a guilty pleasure.

It gets a little melodramatic in the confrontation scenes.

I liked that they showed what life was like in Pasadena, and not the typical LA locations.

Pretty awful movie.

I went to a viewing party, knew the author.

Pauline Kael pointed out the whole point of the movie was constantly showing off what a great aerobicized ass Mary Tyler Moore had in her exercise gear.

Mary (RIP) looked gaunt since after the MTM show

that reminds me of The Main Event r5.

Even as a kid I remember seeing that and thinking this is way too much of Streisand's butt

Lewis Arquette -father of Rosanna, Patricia, David and Alexis - played the TV station guard.

r7 I love the theme song and Ryan O'Neal was sexy. But I still remember the poster with Barbra's tits and ass on display, pure vanity.

What is it about, more adulterating heterosexuals?

It was an HBO made film, overwrought, but not terrible.

But it gave us young Timothy Gibbs shirtless. That's what I remember.

This was the second film where Christine Lahti played the best friend and got better reviews than the lead. (see Swing Shift)

Christine Lahti's character is surprisingly contemporary, and could work in a film released today, with the exception of the chain smoking.

I liked this movie a lot!

R11: What was it with MTM and boys named Timothy?

Always LOVED Christine Lahti! Very underrated actress. She stole almost every movie she was in.

After all these years, I still remember lines from this movie:

"World Peace? Or the dust bunnies under her bed?"

[quote] Christine Lahti's character is surprisingly contemporary, and could work in a film released today, with the exception of the chain smoking.

Change those cigarettes to joints and you've got something.

Swing Shift remains one of my favorite movies of all time...the music, the clothes, the period sets, hunky Kurt Russell and... CHRISTONE LAHTI as Hazel. Maybe I'll watch it again tonight.

I LOVE Swing Shift!

"Grandma! I'm agnostic."

"You can hum."

I haven't thought of that movie in years. It was great! First movie I saw Christine in, and I became a fan. She is like Christina Ebersol to me, in that she becomes her character and it's always powerful or fluff, depending on the need. They have great instinct.

Timothy Gibbs was so hot. Whatever happened to him?

r19 and r20 I love Swing Shift, too. But the film that was released was not the version director Jonathan Demme wanted. There is a director's cut that has never seen the light of day. Goldie Hawn didn't like the original cut. The rumour was that Lahti stole the show (although she still does in the revised version) but Hawn says she didn't like how her character came across in Demme's original cut.

Considering she played a homewrecking shrew, Christine Lahti was the most likeable character in the movie.

This movie could actually have had a decent sequel with Christine and MTM living single raising Ted Danson s kid.

I thought so too, r25!

I always wondered if there was any truth to the story MTM tells about having to turn down the Mrs. Peanut role because she got pregnant.

Ted Danson was hot then too. It should have been "Just Between Fathers and Sons".

Time has not been kind to Timothy Gibbs.

the director of this spoke at my college...the one thing I remember is he seemed to thing it was a hotter property than Mary did. Mary was doing the new sitcom around this time and trying to get back to being a regular on TV. He said something like what if this does for you what Terms did for Shirley Maclaine. He said Mary said that wasn't going to happen and that Shirley had really been given that many good roles since TErms.

The guitar score throughout, and Pasadena filming locations are very similar to those used for "thirtysomething" which began airing a year later.

Mare's ass.

I wasn't sure if the nurse with valley girl voice at the end was supposed to be a joke when she says, "Like, I really need to get this back."

This movie has a storyline that would work if adapted to 2019.

Smoker?

I remember watching and being glad he cheated on her. I never liked her.

Always liked Christine Lahti. I don't actually get them mixed up, but I Do think Christine Lahti and Allison Janney have that same 'something' (besides acting talent) that endears them to audiences....

"The sex wasn't even very good."

The cheating and getting the wife's friend pregnant is more realistic than Glenn Close loaning Kevin Kline's sperm by way of fucking best friend Mary Kay Place with their entire social circle under the same roof in The Big Chill.

[quote] but I Do think Christine Lahti and Allison Janney have that same 'something' (besides acting talent) that endears them to audiences....

A penis?

I, too, am haunted by some of the lines from this movie even though I haven't seen it in more than 30 years. I can still see Mare, aghast, saying to Christine Lahti:

"So it's okay... If you don't know the WIFE?!?"

Since producer/writer Allan Burns came from the Mary Tyler Moore show and it was produced by MTM, I always wondered if there was any truth to the story she tells about turning down the Mrs. Peanut role.

She would have been perfect casting with her body type and energy.

Christine Lahti's bangin body

Beth Jarrett would never do "jazzercise".

This needs to be on a streaming platform

Mary and Ted are exactly 10 years apart in age.

Christine Lahti's boss in the newsroom, Mark Blum, died of COVID.

Just watched this over the weekend. I loved Mary Tyler Moore, but she is too old for this role. Ted Danson looks more like her son than her husband. (He is 11 years younger than her in real life.) Also, I know Mary was always slim, but she is positively ANOREXIC in this. If the camera adds 10 lbs I cannot imagine how bad she must have looked in real life. Her arms are toothpicks!! And it does seem like this movie was meant to showcase her body and how sexy she is. The opening scene with her making orgasmic noises and sweat dripping off her as she stretches after her workout is laugh out loud ridiculous. If I was Ted, I would have fucked Christine Lahti too.

[R48] Spot on. Although the movie is indeed in the "guilty pleasure" category, there's a ghoulish subtext regarding Mary's emaciated, unhealthy appearance, which we're supposed to perceive as "older, fit, sexy." The movie is utter hogwash but Mary and Christine Lahti make it worth watching.

This is one of those under-the-radar movies that makes living in LA/Pasadena look appealing.

Her sitcom from the 80's is fascinating to watch now. It's clear they were going for a more contemporary MTM Show but it's crass and mean spirited. Mary looks uncomfortable and sometimes downright unhappy to be there.

Mary trashed the show in her biography. She said after one contentious meeting with the producers where they basically called her every name under the sun, she went to the head of CBS and asked them to cancel the show. The producers told an executive that at least they got their balls back (implying that Mary had been a complete bitch) to which the executive reply "Yes, but Mary has your dicks on the hood of her car." CBS cancelled the show shortly after.

Ken Levine who produced the show has nothing nice to say about her on his blog.

[quote]It was an HBO made film, overwrought, but not terrible.

No it wasn't. It was a major motion picture released by Orion pictures.

MTM looked much better a decade later in Flirting With Disaster. Just Between Friends marked the end of a long period of drinking before she checked into The Betty Ford Center and married a doctor who would keep her healthier, then went on to make JBF.

[R51] I just watched a few minutes of an episode out of curiosity. Boy, did that stink!