The Mirror Has Two Faces

1996 "A story about just how wrong two people can be before they can be right."
6.6| 2h6m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 15 November 1996 Released
Producted By: TriStar Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Rose Morgan, who still lives with her mother, is a professor of Romantic Literature who desperately longs for passion in her life. Gregory Larkin, a mathematics professor, has been burned by passionate relationships and longs for a sexless union based on friendship and respect.

Genre

Drama, Comedy, Romance

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Director

Barbra Streisand

Production Companies

TriStar Pictures

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The Mirror Has Two Faces Audience Reviews

Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!
UnowPriceless hyped garbage
RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.
Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
JLA-2 No one ever told her she was pretty growing up. So, Barbra had to make a self-loathing piece of reassurance that, yes, she is pretty and that, yes, the WASP handsome guy will fall in love with her. It didn't work out in "The Way We Were." But in her own production, she can give herself the happy ending she always wanted. And that, when James Brolin married her, she got in real life.This movie goes around and around: "Are looks the only thing that matter?" Yes. No. Yes. No. Barbra rejects poor Austin Pendleton, the ugly, nerdy guy who pursues her. Why? Because he is ugly and nerdy. We see him later with a doppleganger girlfriend, as unattractive and nerdy as he is. That's it, implies Barbra. Ugly people only get ugly people. She decries superficial attraction, yet it's the only kind that she herself seeks. Why won't the handsome guy love her? Pierce Brosnan rejected her because she wasn't pretty. (Mimi Rogers is held up as the ideal. Really?) But when Barbra emerges reborn as "beautiful" she rejects him for his superficiality. Yet she had only been attracted to him for his looks. So, who is the superficial one?This movie should be structured so that the "Ugly Duckling" is transforms into a swan. "The Girl Most Likely To," has this before/after structure. Stockard Channing goes from unibrow frump to svelte beauty. (It's the apex of physical self-loathing, written by Joan Rivers, no surprise.) But here, the vain Barbra can't let herself be seen as truly unattractive.Her "Before" is "Before and After." Barbra is beautifully photographed and every hair is in place. People say she never wears make-up, when clearly she is perfectly made up. She wants to be loved "warts and all," but let's get rid of the warts first.And, because Barbra has been too vain to ever look truly unattractive, her reveal is unrevealing. She is still no great beauty - just someone trying very hard to look that way. Yes, hair and make-up are better. Yes, the (product placement) Donna Karan dresses are more flattering. But she is never going to look like the stunning Elle MacPherson, who shows up as Jeff Bridges' ex at the beginning of the movie.Get over it, Barbra.But she, like Joan Rivers, bore the indelible scars of rejection. And no amount of plastic surgery - for Joan - or plastic movie-making - for Barbra - will ever heal those wounds. I think it's kind of sad and pitiful.Some people reading this review might think, "What about the rest of the movie?" It's nicely produced. The writing is quite heavy-handed. The best scenes are given to a wistful Lauren Bacall. She remembers being beautiful and mourns her own aging. But the movie is all about the relationship between attractiveness and sex and courtly love. Taken as a treatise on superficiality - it's not pretty.
cronkk7-75-793981 Suspiciously similar to "Goodbye Love", a movie with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn in 1945. The theme, a woman unloved, a man betrayed, a marriage of convenience. Even the struggle the husband goes through to avoid consummation. If an idea was stolen or copied this would be it.
vincentlynch-moonoi All my life I pretty much avoided films starring Jeff Bridges (although I really liked his brother Beau). Looking back, it was more due to the movies Jeff Bridges appeared in, which didn't suit my taste. Here, however, Bridges is excellent as the somewhat befuddled math professor who is afraid of intimacy. The other reason I didn't watch this film until now (and it has been out for 20 years) is that I somehow had no idea it was essentially a light romantic comedy. And, it's a very good one.But I think there's a huge flaw in this film -- the Streisand character seems totally inconsistent in terms of behavior. And I'm not even talking about how the character changes when her life situation changes. I'm talking about inconsistent in terms of being an ebullient college profession by day and a near shut-in by night. Nope. I don't buy it.Lauren Bacall is interesting as the mother; quite stereotypical, but still interesting. George Segal has a rather mundane role as a friend for Bridges. Pierce Brosnan and Brenda Vaccaro have significant, though not interesting roles as friends who move the plot along.It's good, but not great, overly long, and very nice fluff. Not one of Streisand's best, but not bad. ehhhhh
padres01 OK. If you accept this movie for what it is, it's actually pretty entertaining. It's a Cinderella story for middle-aged folks. I won't recap the film. That's not my job. I'm here only to give you my impressions on the watchability and impact of this movie. If you love Barbra Streisand (and I do) and you love Jeff Bridges (and I do), you will love this romantic comedy. Both are at their funny, witty, comedic best in this film. Mimi Rogers is gorgeous as Bab's sister. (Oddly, Netflix has her mistakenly identified as Fran Drescher on its website.) Lauren Bacall is stunningly beautiful - still. Overall, the film has a lot of heart. What I love about Streisand is that she knows her weaknesses and her strengths, and plays both up to much effect in this film, which she directed and, I believe, co-wrote. This is a quintessential "chick flick," the kind you enjoy on a raining Sunday night with a big bowl of popcorn. If you are in just the right mood for a film that shamelessly exploits your feelings about romance, this one is it. Enjoy.