The Story of Us

Reiner's sour romantic comedy offers little interest, fun or insight as it anatomises a failing marriage. Katie (Pfeiffer) and Ben (Willis) have been married for 15 years, warring for the last five, and reduced to playacting the perfect couple at the breakfast table for the benefit of their offspring, Erin and Josh. Ben, a comedy writer, is the dreamer, the funster; Katie is the 'designated driver' of their relationship. Tired of endless slanging matches and unimpressed with the counsel of distracting or distracted marriage advisors, they opt for separation while their kids go off to summer camp. Beware of movies with straight-to-camera confessions. Time has steadily coarsened Reiner's once sure touch for frantic comedy, and although he neutralises the more sentimental elements of Alan Zweibel and Jessie Nelson's banal screenplay, his failure to flesh out or evoke sympathy for either character reduces the movie to an unedifying slanging match.