The Marrying Man

"Hot gets you into trouble," cautions high-living 1940s-era playboy Alec Baldwin. He doesn't know the half of it. Days before his marriage to Hollywood studio heiress Elisabeth Shue, he falls madly in bed with shapely lounge singer Kim Basinger and ends up in an unlikely shotgun marriage. They divorce, they remarry, they divorce, they... you get the picture. Baldwin, all cool confidence in his sharp suits, and Basinger, who looks poured into her stylish, curve-hugging gowns, fell in love while shooting this 1991 film. Unfortunately their onscreen chemistry, apart from a couple of simmering bedroom scenes, is anything but combustible.

Neil Simon based his original screenplay on a real-life Hollywood story of l'amour fou, but even in his hands the ping-ponging romance feels contrived. Without that troublesome heat of uncontrollable passion, this amiable comic drama winds up lukewarm. --Sean Axmaker