Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Overrated

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Released in 1981, The Four Seasons starred, written and directed by Alan Alda whilst still in his last years of playing Hawkeye Pierce in M*A*S*H. It is a superb effort from Alda as it tells three middle-aged couples, Alda amongst them, taking holidays together. The first of these holidays has one of the men Nick (Len Cariou) deciding to ditch his wife (Sandy Dennis) of more than two decades and eventually takes on a much younger woman (Bess Armstrong). The dynamic with the three couples certainly has changed with Nick getting himself a new lover due to the other two couples long-standing friendship and loyalty with Nick's previous wife. The way The Four Seasons deals with its complexities is what makes this film worth viewing thanks to the acting, script and direction of Alan Alda.

Another reviewer mentioned how this movie has changed for them since they first saw it - and not in a good way.For me, "The Four Seasons" has only become more relevant.I'm watching this on Encore as I write this. When I first saw this back in 1981, I was 16 and getting ready to entire my senior year in HS. I absolutely fell in love with this film but my perspective as a teenager had me seeing these people as my parents generation and wondering if when I reached their age I would have this kind of relationship with my adult friends. I also wondered if such people really existed. I laughed at the situations and the lines but without any real world experience.Now 30 years later, I have a very different perspective on things. I not only see myself (or aspects of myself) in each of the various characters, I find that the dialogue and relationships as presented in the film ring very true. When you are friends with other people for a long time, you do know each other well enough to be able to criticize, annoy, care about, and cherish one another the way these people do.I have also run into and had to deal with people that are essentially carbon copies of the people portrayed in the movie. I know Jack and Kate, Danny and Claudia, Nick, Ginny, and especially Anne. These people are real - not just characters written into a screenplay. They live in my town. Their fears, dreams, and neuroses are all familiar.Alan Alda was able to capture authentic portrayals of people by an outstanding cast. And while all movies are a distillation of sorts of character types, the individuals in this film seem particularly authentic to me.30 years later, I find this still to be a terrific movie. It is timeless in its message, and the emotions (humor, sympathy, anger) I experience come from a genuine understanding of and kinship with these people and their situations.

I think this movie defines Alda's talent for writing. He uses situations and feelings that people face or have faced in real life. Ever since I first saw Alan's first M*A*S*H episode that he wrote, I made it my job to see every movie that he stared and wrote in. His talent is unsurpassed and cannot be reproduced. I first bought this on Selectavision Videodisc, and now I own it on every format. Every time formats change, I make sure to get the updated copy of it. This is a must see movie for any Alan Alda, or Carol Burnett fan. "It all adds up to warmhearted enjoyment and sidesplitting fun in this fabulous new RCA VideoDisc" (Susan Zucker, quote taken from the RCA VideoDisc "The Four Seasons")

ALAN ALDA has sharpened the humor and tense situations that occur when three middle-aged couples decide to take vacations together through the four seasons, with some unexpected results. Most of the mishaps are on the funny side and there's a lot of wisecracking between the couples, some of which sounds an awful lot like TV situation stuff. CAROL BURNETT scores nicely as Alda's wife, adept as he is with one-liners.But it's all done in a light-hearted way with the seasons bridged nicely by some transitional Vivaldi music. The story is how one couple (LEN CARIOU and SANDY DENNIS) is marked for divorce, which sets up the theme of antagonism toward the new woman entering the friendship circle and being mistreated out of spite. The new woman is played well by BESS ARMSTRONG and stand-outs among the other couples are RITA MORENO and JACK WESTON, as a bickering couple in the mold of Fred and Ethel Mertz.The seasons are beautifully photographed and the tightly knit story structure makes the whole thing a pleasure to watch. Written and directed by Alan Alda, it's certainly a feather in his cap.