Michael Anderson, who capably directed AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS, LOGAN'S RUN and the well-crafted CONDUCT UNBECOMING, plainly abandons his basic standards when at the helm of this trivial Canadian-made sex farce comedy that lacks anything remotely sexy or humorous and is seemingly written by and for subnormal youths during the first throes of puberty. The plot, such as it is, relates of Richard (David Naughton) and Sarah (Jennifer Dale), happily married for 12 years with three foul mouthed young as product, having vacations apart due to Richard's desire to gain an outlet for his adulterous fantasies, and of trite libidinous adventures that engage each, Richard in Puerto Vallarta and Sarah at a skiing resort. Richard aggressively and in quite an inane manner pursues a throng of openly available females beneath the Mexican sun, while Sarah cannot manage to control herself when inveigled by a lodge lothario who also constitutes a romantic interest for Sarah's babysitter, played by Laurie Holden in an unpromising debut. It would be difficult to select a character from this movie with whom one may be sympathetic, due essentially to a screenplay that goes to great lengths to develop a plot and dialogue as hackneyed, predictable, and wanting in wit as can be imagined. Several female members of the cast doff their clothing, in each instance an unwise aesthetic decision, and the acting in general is second-rate throughout, even when one takes into consideration the vacuous lines supplied the cast by a script that focuses upon banal physical comedy as its cardinal component. Post-production shortcomings, in particular flawed sound mixing and dubbing, only add to the many deficiencies of this piece that also suffers from vapid scoring; the work is based upon a novel by Eric Weber, who additionally fabricated a book from which another bit of dross was produced: HOW TO PICK UP GIRLS.
Review of Separate Vacations
