He Said, She Said (film)

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He Said, She Said
Directed by	Ken Kwapis Marisa Silver
Written by	Brian Hohlfeld
Produced by	Frank Mancuso Jr. Vikki Williams
Starring	Kevin Bacon Elizabeth Perkins Sharon Stone
Cinematography	Stephen H. Burum
Edited by	Sidney Levin
Music by	Miles Goodman
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	February 22, 1991 (1991-02-22)
Running time	115 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$15 million
Box office	$9,804,775

He Said, She Said is a 1991 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Ken Kwapis and Marisa Silver. It stars Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth Perkins as two journalists working in the same office and falling in love with each other.

Plot[]

It is the story of the relationship between journalists Dan Hanson (Kevin Bacon) and Lorie Bryer (Elizabeth Perkins) told twice – once from each perspective. The male story was directed by Ken Kwapis and the female story by Marisa Silver. At the time, Kwapis and Silver were engaged and they married soon after the film was released.

Dan and Lorie are writers of obituaries and weddings, respectively, and later rival editorial page contributors at the Baltimore Sun. Shortly after starting their rivalrous, side-by-side columns between conservative Dan and liberal Lorie, it's a case of opposites attract. Close to three years after the column and their relationship commences, a morning talk show appearance inspires a local channel to offer them a TV program. The point-counterpoint talk show will present their opposing views on various civic issues.

Their great differences cause sparks to fly and ratings to soar. One day on air, they create a great scene, which piques the public's interest, while simultaneously causing their breakup. We then see the film is then split, the first half showing us his perspective of the three years of their relationship up until the on-air scene and the second half, hers.

Dan is initially shown to be a womanizer and commitment-phobe. Early on, Lorie helps him hide from one woman he's jilted, later she sees his flirtatious interaction with women she perceives to be excessively sexily dressed and not very bright. He sees himself as a wolf, needing to be free. Then we see him mishearing and reading items on a menu, all connected to serious relationships and settling down.

As Dan and Lorie get to know one another, they both discover they have feelings for each other. She carefully orchestrates their first close encounters, making it appear that she's avoiding another man, so that he dances with her. She subtly lets him know she's just dumped her boyfriend so he knows she's available and they have dinner together.

Once they are resettled in their new office space as columnists, Lorie says she loves him, but Dan doesn't reciprocate. Obviously something he's not comfortable saying, he goes to a therapist but still can't say it. Finally he tells her he loves her while she's sleeping. Unbeknownst to him, she has heard him and we see she is staggered.

We come to the fateful live scene with the mug. Moments before they step on-stage, they argue in the green room. Lorie discovers Dan had heard from Linda (Sharon Stone), and had made lunch plans with her. Jealous because of their past history, she asks if he'll ever marry her and he tells her no.

On the day of what is meant to be their last show, Dan pre-records his rebuttal. Then, Lorie does a live redo response to the previous day's topic the merger (of two highways--a thinly veiled reference to their relationship), saying the proposal was a bad idea. She shows that her mug is clean, alluding to an off-handed remark he made, saying if he one day achieves that she cleans the bottom of her mug, he would consider their relationship a success. The studio shows Dan's prerecorded rebuttal to the proposal, equally reneging on his view, accepting the proposal. Then he directly apologizes to her, asking for another chance, and then reappears on stage, and they embrace.

Cast[]

• Kevin Bacon as Dan Hanson
• Elizabeth Perkins as Lorie Bryer
• Nathan Lane as Wally Thurman
• Anthony LaPaglia as Mark
• Sharon Stone as Linda
• Stanley Anderson as Mr. Weller
• Charlayne Woodard as Cindy
• Danton Stone as Eric
• Phil Leeds as Mr. Spepk
• Rita Karin as Mrs. Spepk
• Paul Butler as Al, at the Deli
• Erika Alexander as Rita, his daughter
• Ashley Gardner as Susan
• Michael Harris as Adam

Reception[]

As of January 2022, He Said, She Said holds a rating of 35% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 17 reviews.^[1]

In a two-star review Roger Ebert described it as "a gentle little film that raises some questions about the different ways men and women view reality, does not answer them, and succeeds in being entertaining all the same."^[2]

References[]

External links[]

• He Said, She Said at IMDb
• He Said, She Said at Rotten Tomatoes
• He Said, She Said at Box Office Mojo

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