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Customer Reviews of Mr. & Mrs. Bridge

Generation gap pre-WWII
There is so much good to say about "Mr. and Mrs. Bridge." As usual, the Merchant/Ivory team produce quality work that looks good, sounds good, plays well, and makes the viewer both think and feel. It draws us in and gets us involved with the characters. Although the stories are often slight, the characters involved wouldn't think so because this is their lives we're watching. This production team knows how to thrive in this setting, and this film is no exception. Trying to pin down the relationship between the title characters is as elusive as with any real people, which is a rare and wonderful thing in the entertainment world. Too often writers and directors feel they have to bludgeon us over the head with messages and obvious black/white issue statements that preach. <
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>Mr. & Mrs. Bridge obviously love each other dearly; he is wholly devoted to her, faithful, protective, and tender to a fault so that she is sheltered. Consequently their children have little respect for her, the rich lady with a maid who fusses over them like children as they go off to college, to a career, or to war. Mr. & Mrs. Bridge are not comfortable with the way society around them is changing. <
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>There are a huge number of beautifully understated moments in the screenplay and in its onscreen execution. Every moment feels authentic....except that I can't get over the feeling that Paul Newman is awfully miscast in this role. Mr. Bridge is so uptight he squeaks when he walks, and it's not his shoes. This is not the Paul Newman we know from a long career of playing hustlers, con men, and disreputable scalawags. Although he often manages to pull off the extremely responsible Mr. Bridge, it's often difficult for the audience to get past seeing him race cars, shoot pool, or dig a ditch on a chain gang as we have over the years. Some actors could pull this off; Newman falls just short. Fortunately he is surrounded by others who wear their characters as neatly as he wears his suit. Newman playing the title role really interferes with the story. <
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>Worse than that is the ending, which basically comes out of nowhere. There is no payoff, emotional or otherwise; it simply feels like the film broke during the final reel and the projectionist simply brought up the house lights rather than fix it. This also comes at the end of a scene that begins equally abruptly, as if something important had wound up on the cutting room floor, when the Bridges' son shows up in Air Corps uniform although the audience is never told he had been anywhere but at home, and apparently several months or years have passed. The whole ending act is thus completely out of kilter...and then it's over. <
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>Newman's past history and the final act of the film, however, don't ruin a remarkable character study in repression, rebellion, and self-control to the point of anal retention. "Mr. & Mrs. Bridge" is a most remarkable film that can be greatly enjoyed by any intelligent person over age 25; I doubt many younger folks would have matured enough to appreciate the subtleties of the characters, their situations, and their relationships. And in the end, that's all this film is about.

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Some bridges to cross ...
It's hard not to at least admire "Mr. and Mrs. Bridge." Everyone in the cast delivers a great performance (although I'm not sure Joanne Woodward should have been nominated for a Best Actress Oscar). Some cool scenes, some tense scenes, some heartbreaking scenes ... but ultimately, I think, somewhat cold and distant. UNLESS this was the desired effect. In that case ... yes, perfect in every way.

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TWO GREAT ACTORS CAN MAKE INTERESTING A CONVENTIONAL MOVIE.
"Mr. And Mrs. Bridge" stars Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, playing a 1940 marriage. This is a conventional drama with excellent performances, the characters are nothing out of this world, they are a bunch of characters very similar to real life people, the story is not very original, it's just a bunch of rich people living a conventional life, but these two great actors carried on their shoulders the weight of an otherwise uninteresting movie, making "Mr. And Mrs. Bridge" an enjoyable movie.

Basically this is the story of the struggle between two generations, the iron hand discipline of a stiff father and the "rebellion" of his daughter and son who want to escape from the monotony of the life of their parents. And trapped in the middle is Mrs. Bridge, who even though she mostly obeys her husband, once in a while she likes to try new things to inject happiness to her life.

"Mr. And Mrs. Bridge" is an entertaining movie thanks to the performances of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.