1991 American film by Mick Jackson
L.A. Story
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by
| Mick Jackson
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Written by
| Steve Martin
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Produced by
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Starring
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Cinematography
| Andrew Dunn
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Edited by
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Music by
| Peter Melnick
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Production
company
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Distributed by
| Tri-Star Pictures
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Release date
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- February 8, 1991
(
1991-02-08
)
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Running time
| 98 minutes
[1]
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Country
| United States
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Language
| English
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Box office
| $28.9 million
[1]
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L.A. Story
is a 1991 American
satirical
romantic comedy
film written by and starring
Steve Martin
and directed by
Mick Jackson
. The plot follows a weatherman (Martin) trying to find love in
Los Angeles
. It was released on February 8, 1991, and received generally positive reviews from critics.
Plot
[
edit
]
Harris K. Telemacher is a TV
weatherman
living in Los Angeles. He is in a dead-end relationship with his social-climbing girlfriend Trudi and feels his job requires him to be undignified and unintellectual, though he holds a Ph.D. in arts and humanities. He wants to find some meaning and magic in his life, having grown increasingly weary of what he sees as the rather shallow and
superficial
city of L.A., from overly pretentious coffee orders to bizarre shooting etiquette rules on the freeway. Furthermore, he spends his time roller-skating through art galleries with his friend Ariel, offering eccentric art reviews to acquaintances, remixing Shakespeare a lot, and otherwise seeking to escape his ordinary life.
At a luncheon with a group of friends, he meets Sara, a journalist from
London
, with whom he immediately becomes infatuated.
Driving home that night, his car breaks down on the freeway. He notices that a
freeway traffic condition sign
seems to be displaying messages intended solely for him. It offers him cryptic advice on his love life throughout the movie.
He begins to fall for Sara, but she is conflicted because she has pledged to reconcile with her ex-husband, Roland. Feeling that a relationship with Sara is unlikely, Harris begins dating SanDeE*, a ditzy aspiring
spokesmodel
, whom he meets at a clothing store. After his first date with her, Harris discovers that Trudi has been cheating on him for three years with his agent. The discovery leads him to pursue his romantic interest in Sara. This is complicated by his new relationship with SanDeE* and by Sara's feeling of obligation to Roland.
By the conclusion, he has successfully wooed Sara, with some encouragement and advice from the sign.
Cast
[
edit
]
There are uncredited
cameo appearances
by
Chevy Chase
,
Woody Harrelson
,
Paula Abdul
,
Martin Lawrence
,
Rick Moranis
(this would be the fourth and final film in which Moranis appeared with Martin), and
Terry Jones
.
John Lithgow
and
Scott Bakula
filmed scenes?as a movie agent and Harris's neighbor, respectively?that did not appear in the final cut (although references to Lithgow's character remain in the freeway shootout and the 'California Cuisine' lunch scenes).
Martin and Tennant were real-life husband and wife at the time of the film's production.
Release
[
edit
]
Box office
[
edit
]
L.A. Story
was a box office success. The film earned $6.6 million during its opening weekend,
[2]
and ended its theatrical run with a gross of $28 million.
[1]
Critical response
[
edit
]
On
review aggregator
website
Rotten Tomatoes
, the film holds an approval rating of 91% based on 44 reviews, with an average rating of 7.50/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A romantic comedy that doubles as a love letter to the titular city,
L.A. Story
is Steve Martin at his silly, sweetly soulful best."
[3]
On
Metacritic
, the film has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
[4]
Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.
[5]
In 2008,
L.A. Story
was voted by a group of
Los Angeles Times
writers and editors as the 20th best film set in Los Angeles in the last 25
years?with two criteria: "The movie had to communicate some inherent truth about the L.A. experience, and only one film per director was allowed on the list".
[6]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
"L.A. Story (1991)"
.
Box Office Mojo
.
IMDb
. Retrieved
August 25,
2015
.
- ^
Broeske, Pat H. (February 12, 1991).
"WEEKEND BOX OFFICE : 'Sleeping,' 'L.A.' Knock 'Home' Out"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Archived from
the original
on August 25, 2015
. Retrieved
January 11,
2011
.
- ^
"L.A. Story (1991)"
.
Rotten Tomatoes
.
Flixster
. Retrieved
August 4,
2023
.
- ^
"LA Story Reviews"
.
Metacritic
. Retrieved
July 5,
2020
.
- ^
"Find CinemaScore"
(Type "LA Story" in the search box)
.
CinemaScore
. Retrieved
July 5,
2020
.
- ^
Boucher, Geoff; Lee, Chris; Olsen, Mark; Abramowitz, Rachel; Timberg, Scott; Day, Patrick; Turan, Kenneth (August 31, 2008).
"The 25 best L.A. films of the last 25 years"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Archived from
the original
on August 25, 2015
. Retrieved
August 31,
2008
.
External links
[
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