Stars: Bruce Willis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Colleen Rennison, Jake Sandvig, Tim Matheson, Rob Reiner, Julie Hagerty, Rita Wilson

Director: Rob Reiner

Summary: A married couple find that they no longer love one another after two children and fifteen years together...

Told in an engaging collage of direct camera confessionals, flashbacks, roundtable discussions, and montages, Rob Reiner's THE STORY OF US, a sweet romantic comedy featuring solid performances by Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer, examines the difficulty of preserving marriage in America and the dual lives married couples often must endure. The "us" are Ben and Katie Jordan (Willis and Pfeiffer), a professional, and by all appearances happily married, suburban couple with two well-adjusted children, Erin and Josh; the "story," however, is that their marriage is actually crumbling at an alarming rate, a truth they endeavor to hide from their loving kids. Luckily, they can postpone the admission of dissolution because of the children's departure to summer camp, with the possibility that things will work out in the ensuing months. However, as time passes, tempers flare, Ben moves out, Katie meets a charming divorce at a cooking class, and, as the inevitable return of Erin and Josh closes to a week, there is no apparent hope of resolution. Will the two be forced to present their kids with an awful fact of life, or can they rediscover their passion for each other and renew their love

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The Story of Usis about the fear of potential separation most marriages are supposed to experience. Personalities clash; identities blur; responsibilities weigh heavy. This, then, is an exploration of the Jordans, an average American couple who can't find any reason to stay together after 15 years. Once you get past the star power of Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer, there's a terrifically pithy script working for them that effectively manages to juggle the genre crossover of a comedy-drama. Several montages cover years of petty squabbling, raising two kids, and long silences. There are confessions to camera about who picked what fight, and flashbacks to time spent offloading with friends. These provide the comedic backbone, with director Rob Reiner hogging the best lines. The best gag and narrative device is a bedroom scene following a therapist's revelation that every couple goes to bed with their parents' way of thinking rattling around in their minds. Sure enough, the super-wide bed shows all six in hilarious fashion. Despite the general paranoid atmosphere that everyone's doomed, you can rest assured that the guy who brought you When Harry Met Sallyallows optimism to prevail.

On the DVD:Reiner's commentary is a little sporadic, but like the great stand-up comic he always seems to be, each comment is priceless. He explains how he hates acting, yet can't help himself. A 20-minute documentary interviews all the cast and also composer Eric Clapton, and they all give their pessimistic views on why relationships break down. Willis is in fine form telling us that it was "so much more challenging than running down a street with a gun and shouting"! The widescreen presentation is crisp, as is the 5.1 sound. One trailer rounds out the package. --Paul Tonks

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Interactive Menus, Scene Access, Trailer, The Story Of Us The Stories Behind The Story Of Us
Subtitles:	Arabic, Bulgarian, English, Romanian
Year:	1999
Release Date:	October 23, 2000
Runtime:	95 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	D0 C 2581
Label:	Castle Rock Entertainment
Keywords:	Story, Comedy, General, Wide, Screen, Drama, Us
Genre:	Drama